


Let the future in

by WinterRose527



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-06-05 14:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 46,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15172835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterRose527/pseuds/WinterRose527
Summary: This was a tough one... stick with me!





	1. A Change is Gonna Come

There are very few things quite as exciting for a fifteen year old girl than to be included in something that only a year before she was deemed too young for.

 

It had come as a surprise to Sansa when her older brother had asked if she wanted to come with him and his friends on the boat on the Fourth of July to watch the fireworks. She had been planning to go on the big boat with the rest of their family, as she had done last year, but watching with Robb, Jon and Theon sounded so much more fun than watching Bran and Arya have a bet to see who could eat the most marshmallows.

 

_“Ella we are going on the boat for the 4th!,” she had said as her best and oldest friend wandered into the house holding her tennis racket._

 

_“I know, Sans, we go every year,” she said with a look of confusion on her dewey face._

 

_“No not with Mum and Dad…with Robb,” Sansa nearly squealed._

 

_“I mean…only if you want me…to take you!…Ella…,” Robb sputtered._

 

_Sansa rolled her eyes but Ella blushed, tucking an errant tendril behind her ear._

 

_“The boat sounds fun,” Ella confirmed, because apparently it was her decision._

 

_“Great it’s a date!,” Robb said and then banged into the counter when he tried to flee, “I mean… it’s… we’re going to leave at 6.”_

 

She and Ella had gotten ready in Ella’s room at the lake house. It was technically a guest room but no one ever stayed there except for Ella, who always joined her family for the summer. Sansa knew better than to dress in the new skirt she’d bought, it got cold on the lake at night, so she’d worn jeans and a white and blue striped long sleeve shirt, grabbing an old red cable knit of her father’s for the ride back. Ella had dusted her cheeks with a shimmery powder and handed her a tube of her lipgloss while she’d pulled on white jeans and a red and white striped oxford, not bothering with make up.

 

“Don’t you want a sweater or something?,” she asked as they padded down the stairs.

 

“Jon will bring me one,” Ella said with the confidence of someone who had learned over the years.

 

Sansa had been surprised to see girls waiting on the dock with Jon, Robb and Theon.

 

“Who are the kids?,” the redhead asked. Her hair was a different shade of red than Sansa’s own and she was a couple of years older, but she had long legs and blue eyes just like her. She was wearing short jean shorts and a white tank top and looked impossibly cool, making Sansa feel like a preppy loser.

 

“I’m Ella Baratheon,” Ella said to her, clearly not feeling the same crippling self-doubt that Sansa was in that moment, walking right up to her and offering her hand. “And that’s Sansa Stark… she’s delighted you could make it on her boat this evening.”

 

Sansa bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, and she caught Robb’s grin as he made himself busy loading things onto the boat.

 

“Ygritte,” the girl said warily, shaking Ella’s hand.

 

“I’m Roslin!,” her companion said. She had pretty brown hair and was short and slender like a doll, she looked at Ella brightly and offered her hand. “Robb’s told me so much about you.”

 

Robb blushed and Ella smiled, easing Roslin gently out of the way so she could hop on the boat and turn on the lights.

 

“Do you want me to start her up, Wolf?,” Ella asked Robb.

 

“Uh yeah… everyone got everything?,” Robb asked.

 

“I’ve got everything _I_ need,” Theon said as he picked up Ygritte and Roslin in either arm.

 

Roslin giggled prettily and Ygritte shoved him off. Jon remained silent, and for one reason or another wouldn’t meet her gaze.

 

They all gathered on the boat, Roslin being helped on by Robb, giggling all the while, and took their seats.

 

She and Ella huddled together up at the bow as the breeze tickled their skin, shaking with a little bit of cold and a lot of excitement. There was a divide it seemed, her and Ella at the front, Robb driving, Theon and Jon behind them with the girls. As Robb increased the speed smoothly, Sansa was beginning to feel like maybe being with her parents and other siblings wouldn’t have been so bad after all. Ella met her gaze and smiled though, her blonde hair whipping in the wind, and squeezes her tighter and making her feel better. That was one of the best things about Ella, she never let you feel like you were on your own.

 

They giggled as they hit another boat’s wake, the boat bouncing up and down, their butts rising off the seat and clunking back down. Ella let out a surprised pain-filled laugh and gave someone a thumbs up. Sansa turned and realised it was Robb, checking to see if they were alright. Her big brother gave her that look of his and she blew him a kiss, her mood forgotten.

 

When they got closer to the barge Robb slowed down and dropped the anchor.

 

“Mademoiselle Baratheon, Miss Dove,” Theon said, handing them cans of something.

 

“Dude,” Jon chided, looking meaningfully at them.

 

“They’re fifteen…what were _you_ drinking when you were fifteen?,” Theon asked him.

 

“One Sansa,” Robb said, looking meaningfully at the can in her hands.

 

“You too, El,” Jon said.

 

“Ew, one is more than enough,” Ella said after she took a sip. She stood up and walked back, “Jon do you want to finish this?”

 

Sansa tried a sip tentatively and instantly understood Ella’s reaction. It was bitter and almost stale tasting but it made her tongue tingle and she didn’t want to give up now that she was being included.

 

Jon took the offered beer from Ella, slinging an arm around her and kissing her cheek, “That’s my girl,” he said proudly, happy that she wouldn’t be drinking.

 

“El do you want to split my Arnold Palmer?,” Robb asked her.

 

“Yes pleeease,” Ella said eagerly and stepped out of Jon’s embrace to follow Robb to the cooler, patting him excitedly on the back and jumping up and down in rhythm to a song that was playing a few boats over.

 

The rest of them stood awkwardly as Robb and Ella’s laughter filled the air, all sipping their drinks. Theon tried to sidle up to Roslin, but she kept looking to the back of the boat where Robb and Ella were talking as Robb made their drink and Ella dumped chips and salsa into bowls. Ygritte kicked Jon’s leg with her toe and he caught it, making her squeal. Sansa just sipped her beer, wondering what all the fuss was about.

 

Ella came and rejoined her, smacking Theon’s hand away from the bowl so she could offer it to Roslin and Ygritte first. In a strange turn of events, it was now Ygritte looking at Ella with a smile while Roslin looked on warily.

 

It was the golden hour and Sansa looked over the rim of the boat, thinking of how inviting the water looked, especially in comparison to the current situation, which was awkward at best.

 

“I wish I brought my swim suit,” Ella said, echoing her thoughts as she so often did.

 

“Who needs a swimsuit?,” Theon asked her, wiggling his eyebrows. Jon and Robb scowled at him but Ella only shook her head. They had both grown up with Theon and were completely unfazed by his penchant for impropriety.

 

“You jump, I jump,” Ella said to him with a grin.

 

“El there’s people here,” Jon said, “And you’ll be freezing.”

 

“Have you _seen_ girls swimsuits nowadays Jon? There’s no way my underwear is more revealing,” Ella countered. Sansa could tell she hadn’t really been considering it until Jon told her not to. “Did you bring towels, Wolf?”

 

“Yes…,” Robb said warily as Ella started to unbutton her top.

 

“You coming, Greyjoy?,” Ella asked with a grin, shedding the top and revealing her bra.

 

“Sounds like fun, what about you Ros?,” he asked and they all turned to look at him, “Lin,” he finished.

 

“No way,” Roslin said, combing her hands through her hair for the thousandth time.

 

“Dovey?,” Ella asked.

 

“You go,” Sansa said, “Let me know how the water is.”

 

Ella smiled and eased out of her jeans. She was wearing boy short underwear and no one from any other boat would be able to tell that it wasn’t a bathing suit. She stood up on the seat and without another look at anyone executed a perfect, splashless dive into the water. Theon whooped and cannonballed in after her, getting all of them at least a little wet.

 

“I’m going to kill you, El!,” Theon nearly squealed, “It’s freaking freezing.”

 

Ella giggled, floating on her back. Theon swam to the back of the boat and got out of the water so quick his feet squeaked on the deck. He took one of the towels out of the bag and wrapped it around himself.

 

Ella swam lazily to the back of the boat and both Jon and Robb went to her with towels at the ready.

 

“God you’d think she was their duckling,” Ygritte said.

 

“She _is_ beautiful,” Roslin said.

 

For a moment Sansa thought they’d forgotten she was still sitting there, but then the way they both looked at her expectantly, she realised they wanted her to say something, to confirm their suspicions or debunk them.

 

“We grew up together,” Sansa said, which was something and nothing all at the same time. She took another sip of beer, wondering how many marshmallows Bran had in his mouth at the moment.

 

Ella and the boys came back and joined them, and Theon turned on the speakers, emitting music from a summery British band with a name that Sansa couldn’t remember.

 

“Oh I love this song,” Roslin said and stood up, starting to dance, pulling Ygritte with her.

 

Ella slipped by and came back to sit next to Sansa. She had an enormous towel wrapped around her and tucked her feet under Sansa to warm them.

 

Jon had taken the empty seat next to Sansa and she noticed that he was wearing cologne. He’d started wearing it last summer when the boys would go to parties and bonfires after dinner.

 

“You don’t smell like you,” she said softly, not having realised how much the beer had loosened her tongue.

 

He grinned at her, “What do I smell like, then?”

 

“A man,” she said with a small pout.

 

“You’re one to talk,” he said, “Wearing make-up and drinking a beer… where has my little dove gone?”

 

“Do I look stupid?,” she asked him. She was always so truthful with him, he had a way of pulling it from her with his understanding grey eyes and steady strength.

 

“You look beautiful,” he said to her, taking a sip of his beer and averting her gaze, but then he turned back with a lazy smile and said, “Like always,” and swiped her nose with his finger like she was a little girl.

 

He stood up, and Ygritte pulled her to him. If there was one thing she knew about Jon Snow it was that he didn’t dance, and he stood awkwardly as Ygritte danced while holding his hands.

 

“Get over here, Sans,” Theon said, pulling Sansa’s gaze away as he offered her his hand. She set the beer down and took it, allowing herself to be pulled in and dipped by him.

 

Ella grabbed her clothes and moved to the back of the boat to get dressed and Sansa detangled herself from Theon to go join her.

 

“Hug me, Dove, I’m freezing,” Ella whimpered as she buttoned her shirt.

 

“Oh El,” Sansa said and pulled her friend to her rubbing her back and pulling her wet hair away from her neck. “Why did you go in?”

 

“It was just so awkward, wasn’t it?,” Ella asked her and for some reason this made Sansa feel more at ease. “Those girls _hate_ us. Roslin was practically shooting laser beams out of her eyes at me.”

 

“That’s just because she knows that she doesn’t stand a chance with Robb,” Sansa reasoned softly, not wanting anyone to overhear.

 

“That’s not my fault,” Ella said. Sansa fought the urge to roll her eyes. Ella would know what they all knew soon enough, and it was not her place to tell her. “Jon did you bring a sweatshirt?”

 

“Hmm?,” Jon called and Ella took Sansa’s hand and lead her back.

 

“A sweatshir-,” Ella started but then stopped when she saw the _Mormont Security_ sweatshirt on Ygritte’s slender frame, ending just past the hem of her shorts.

 

Ella blinked almost dumbfounded and for some reason Sansa felt like _she’d_ been punched in the stomach even though it was Ella that Jon had let down. It was a silly tradition of theirs, but it was one all the same. Jon always brought a sweatshirt for Ella ever since they’d gone camping as little kids when Ella had climbed inside of his (while he was wearing it) to get warm.

 

“Here El,” Robb cut in, and rummaged in one of the bags. He proffered his lacrosse sweatshirt, the one he loved, and handed it to her.

 

“You don’t mind?,” Ella asked him. Robb shook his head and Ella pulled the sweatshirt over her, pulling out her wet hair. It positively drowned her small frame and she pushed the sleeves up, “You promise you’ll tell me if you’re cold?”

 

“Promise,” he said, though everyone except maybe Ella knew it was a lie.

 

The sun had finally disappeared and they all went to settle in for the fireworks. Sansa pulled Ella back up to the bow and they cuddled up. Ella was still shivering so Sansa beckoned Robb forward.

 

“What do you need, Dove?,” he asked, his eyes warily surveying the beer can.

 

“Get on Ella’s other side,” she said.

 

“I-I’m fine,” Ella said, her teeth chattering.

 

“Jesus El,” Robb said and sat down. He wrapped his arms around them both, and though he was doing it for Ella, Sansa felt warmed all the same.

 

Ella burrowed into him, nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck and Robb met Sansa’s gaze over it.

 

Things were changing, they were bound to, now that they were all getting older, now that Ella was becoming so beautiful and the boys were past the age where they could ignore it. Robb pulled them both closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead though and for a moment, as the first pop of the fireworks sounded, she could pretend they were still just kids.

 

***

 

There are very few things quite as exciting for a seventeen year old boy than having the girl of your dreams curled against you whispering secrets in your ear.

 

He wasn’t a fool, he knew that she wasn’t doing it _romantically_ , hell his little sister Sansa was on her other side and he was hugging them both as the fireworks sounded, but she rested her small back against his chest and wrapped her arms around one of his and whispered things like “ _Oh this one’s my favorite_ ,” in his ear as a chandelier firework popped.

 

He had always loved fireworks, even as a kid. It was always something special. He was never allowed to stay up late, not even on New Years Eve, but July 4th was different. Ever since he could remember he spent it on this lake, though up until a few years ago he spent it on the big boat with his parents and siblings, Ella, Theon and Jon. He had been so happy when his parents had said yes that first year, letting him take out the boat they all used for waterskiing with just his friends, but as the fireworks popped he realised that he missed Sansa narrating it in his ear like they were watching a golf tournament, Ella’s carefree laughter as she laid down in between Jon and Theon, the two of them more than happy to entertain her, and even the way his mom would come and spread blankets over all of the kids, Rickon ending up in between him and Sansa burrowed in for warmth by the end of it.

 

Theon and Jon had looked at him knowingly when he’d invited Sansa and Ella on the boat tonight. They both knew about his crush on her, it seemed like everyone knew, except Ella. Robb didn’t try to deny it, he didn’t try to explain that it wasn’t even really about that. He just wanted the girls with them, they all had more fun with Sansa and Ella around and there was no point in excluding them just to prove a point.

 

He wasn’t sure whose idea it was to invite Roslin and Ygritte on, but he had an idea. He had seen the look of disappointment in Sansa’s eyes when she came down to the dock and saw the other girls waiting. Sansa was more beautiful than they were already, more kind, more intelligent, more fun, but he had seen the way she looked down at her jeans and long sleeve shirt when encountered with Roslin and Ygritte’s more revealing outfits. He’d wanted to shout at her _You don’t have to be like them, you’re yourself, you’re perfect I promise_ , but then Jon had helped Ygritte onto the boat, his hands lingering on her waist, the two of them laughing together, and Robb knew that it wouldn’t matter if he did. Someday he’d have to deal with that, he’d seen Sansa’s face when Ygritte was revealed to be wearing Jon’s sweatshirt, but not tonight. Not tonight where she cut into the fireworks and said _“Would you_ ** _look_ **_at that? Mahvelous…”_ (her commentators were always Australian for some reason) and made Ella snort in surprise. The three of them broke into hysterics, and he didn’t care that the rest of them were probably looking at them like they were crazy.

 

When the fireworks ended all the boats erupted into applause, honking their horns like always. Sansa gave him her excited grin and he grinned right back as she let out a whooping noise.

 

Theon came up, rubbing his hands together excitedly and said, “Alright kids, should we go to the Glovers or the Hornwoods? Glovers mom always has a better spread, but the Hornwoods boathouse is parent free…”

 

“A party?,” Ella asked Theon.

 

“Yeah little one, it’s tradition,” Theon said, “Should we see if we can find you an alcohol that you _do_ like?”

 

Robb watched Sansa and Ella wordlessly conference. It was weird even now to watch them do this, but it was Sansa who nodded, “Sure.”

 

He couldn’t tell if it was feigned indifference or actual reluctance, but there was none of the giddy excitement on the girls faces that had been present when he first asked them on the boat.

 

“Everyone’s going to the Hornwoods, apparently Glover’s dad shut theirs down after Jon Umber puked in the bushes,” Roslin said, looking at her phone.

 

“Junior or Senior?,” Ella asked genuinely and Ygritte was the first to laugh though they all joined in.

 

“Little bit of column A,” Jon said and then Ella joined in, “Little bit of column B.”

 

“You um, going to be warm enough now?,” Robb asked Ella quietly. They were so close that his breath caused a tendril of her still wet hair to dance and she looked at him and nodded, hugging his sweatshirt closer to her. He wondered briefly if it would smell like her when he got it back, but he knew he wouldn’t be asking for it back.

 

“Yeah,” she nodded, “Thanks Wolf,” she said and placed a quick, chaste kiss on his cheek. She’d been kissing his cheek as long as he could remember, but he still felt the brand of her lips all the same.

 

He cleared his throat and nodded, standing up and heading back to the driver’s seat.

 

“Any chance you want some company?,” a girlish voice asked as he turned on the different switches. It was the wrong girl, but he looked up and smiled anyway.

 

“Sure, Roslin, take a seat,” he said, patting the space next to him as he pulled the anchor back up. “Are you a good co-pilot?”

 

“The best in the biz,” she joked, bumping her shoulder against his.

 

“Quite a reputation to live up to,” he joked as he eased the boat into forward. He always took it slow at night but especially now when there were so many boats out here, all trying to make it home before the kids got cranky and the ice melted.

 

She giggled, more than the joke deserved, and then shivered. She pressed herself against his side and said softly, “Sorry, it really is cold out here.”

 

He was a seventeen year old boy, so it wasn’t like he was indifferent to a beautiful girl cozying up to him, her soft breasts pressed against his arm. He gave her a smile that said _No worries_ but he didn’t go further than that.

 

“Your sister is sweet,” she offered.

 

Robb looked to the bow, where Sansa was cradling Ella dramatically, making her best friend giggle uncontrollably. Sweet was the perfect word for his little sister, who was like sunshine itself.

 

“She is at that,” he confirmed, “The sweetest one of the Stark brood.”

 

“It must be nice, having so many brothers and sisters…,” Roslin continued. He knew that she was an only child, and that her mother had died and her father travelled often for work. He didn’t know it because he’d asked or anything, it was just the kind of thing you knew about someone you’d known for a decade. “And then you have even more with Jon, Theon and Ella.”

 

“Ella’s not my sister,” he said before he could stop himself. She grimaced and nodded slowly. He’d just given the game away. “Not really… she’s closer with Jon actually,” he amended.

 

“Right,” Roslin nodded, though she moved away from him slightly.

 

They drove the rest of the way to the Hornwoods in silence. When they arrived, boats were lining the long docks and Robb found a space towards the end.

 

Ella stood on the bow as he entered and jumped onto the dock, holding one of the lines, Jon holding the other at the stern. _Water babies_ , his parents called them lovingly. They were all more sure footed on a boat than anywhere else, even in Jon’s case, after a beer or two.

 

Roslin went to join Ygritte, pulling her away from Jon as they walked up ahead of the group.

 

“What happened there?,” Jon asked, clearly annoyed that his date for the evening had been pulled away.

 

“Nothing,” Robb answered truthfully.

 

Jon looked at him thoughtfully, and he wondered if this was it, if he was finally going to say it, but he only nodded and fell into step with him as they climbed up the path to the Hornwoods boathouse.

 

The Hornwoods house was a typical, sprawling, mid-century lake house that Mrs. Hornwood in vain tried to keep tidy. She never went to the boathouse though, so that is where her sons Richard and Henry entertained their guests while the adults discussed the upcoming elections and whether the new family who had moved in across the lake was nice.

 

Henry, the older of the two, a big hulking defensemen on Robb’s lacrosse team let out a howl when Theon, Jon and he entered. They howled back and Robb gratefully took the beer he was handed.

 

Robb took a sip and watched as Richard, who was a year behind Robb but nearly as big as his brother, picked up Ella and spun her around, before planting a kiss on Sansa’s cheek. He threw back his head and laughed at something Ella said in his ear and nodded, gesturing around the room.

 

“So you finally let them into the wild?,” Henry asked them, looking over at the girls as they jumped up and down, egging Richard on as he chugged his beer, “They really are beauties, huh?,” he asked. They’d all known each other since they were kids, but the way Henry was looking at his sister and Ella set Robb’s teeth on edge. He turned and shook his head, but it was Jon he was looking at, “Don’t worry man. _I_ know they are off limits. It’s everyone else you should worry about.”

 

 _Trust me, I am_ , Robb thought to himself but shook himself out of it. He was at a party with all of his friends, he wasn’t going to spend the whole time worrying about who Sansa and Ella were talking to.

 

“Beer pong?,” he asked the guys.

 

“Beer pong,” they all concluded.

 

He lost track of how many games they played, all he knew is that he and Henry were winning. Theon and Jon were getting louder and louder as the games went on, and there was a crowd amassed, watching them.

 

He was about to take a shot when he looked over and saw Ella watching him. She was standing there with Richard, Sansa had gone off somewhere, and she gave him a confused smile when their eyes met.

 

“This is for you, little one,” he said to her, and everyone in the room turned and looked. He didn’t notice that she turned beet red from all the attention, he just saw the way she’d bitten her lip to hide her smile. The ball floated easily into the last cup and the crowd erupted in hollers.

 

“I think your good luck charm needs a kiss,” Henry said, louder than he should have.

 

“Ella…Ellabell,” Robb cooed and she shook her head as though he was an idiot, which he was, and removed herself from Richard so she could walk over to him. “Henry thinks you deserve a kiss for being my good luck charm.”

 

She glared at Henry briefly who gave her a _who me?_ expression and she tapped a slender finger against her cheek bone. Robb pulled her to him gently and smacked a kiss on her cheek.

 

“That’s not what he meant,” he whispered in her ear.

 

“It’ll take more than the winning shot in beer pong to earn the real thing,” she said softly.

 

“Challenge accepted,” he said, not realising how much the beer had loosened his tongue.

 

She gave him another one of her confused smiles but said, “Are you almost ready to go?”

 

He straightened up, “Yeah…yeah absolutely…where’s Sansa?”

 

Ella looked around and then all of a sudden her hand was covering his eyes.

 

“Ella?,” he asked curiously, though he could have easily removed her hand.

 

“Just um…Jon, Theon come here!,” she said, “Why don’t you guys go down to the boat and we’ll meet you down there, k?”

 

“Uh… yeah dude, come on,” Theon said guiding him away.

 

“What? El?,” he asked turning back to her. That is when he saw Sansa dancing with Willas Tyrell, the president of his class, much too closely for his liking.

 

“Theon,” Ella ordered, and Robb felt Theon’s hands on his shoulder pushing him forward.

 

He didn’t realise that Jon hadn’t come with them until they were halfway down the stairs.

 

***

 

There are few things quite so heartbreaking for a seventeen year old boy as seeing the girl of your dreams dancing with another.

 

Jon knew he didn’t have a right to feel the way that he did, not when he and Ygritte had been going hot and heavy for the past few weeks. That didn’t stop him from seeing red when he saw Willas’ hands on Sansa’s waist though.

 

“Jon,” Ella warned. As far as he knew, she was the only one that knew how he felt about Sansa. She’d caught him out a few months before when they’d gone shopping for Sansa’s birthday, and ever since then it was a secret between them, binding them to one another even more than they had been before.

 

“I know,” Jon said. _You know nothing_ , someone whispered in his head but he ignored them as he went through the party to the makeshift dance floor. “Come on Sansa, it’s time to go.”

 

Sansa turned to him, her beautiful face flushed with happiness. He tried not to let it hurt how her face fell when she saw him, tried and failed.

 

“It’s still early though,” she said and she and Willas giggled in some private joke.

 

“Sansa, come on… they’re our ride,” Ella reasoned with her.

 

Sansa opened her mouth to protest and Jon lost his patience, not that he had any in this situation to begin with, and he bent down, cutting Sansa off at the legs and throwing her over his shoulder.

 

“Jon Snow!,” she bellowed but he ignored her.

 

“Evening Tyrell,” he said grimly.

 

“See you tomorrow, Sansa!,” Willas called as they left.

 

Ella walked in front of them, clearly worried that he would drop her best friend, while all Jon could think of is what the fuck Willas meant when he said _See you tomorrow_.

 

Jon didn’t let her down until he deposited her into Robb’s waiting arms on the boat.

 

“You are unbe _lievable_!,” Sansa growled at them all, even Theon who hadn’t really done anything. “You all take us to that party and what? Should we have just _waited_ for you in the corner?”

 

“Sans…,” Ella started, but stopped when she saw the fury in Sansa’s eyes.

 

Only then did Jon actually think of how embarrassing that must have been for her, being carried out like a child in front of a boy she liked.

 

“Sansa -,” he started.

 

“Don’t,” she huffed, pushing by him and going up to the bow.

 

Ella gave him a look that said _I told you so_ and Robb gave him a look that said _Wasn’t that my job?_

 

He couldn’t deal with either of them, not when all he wanted was to walk up there and tell Sansa that he was sorry, that he knew she wasn’t a child and that was the problem, that she was beautiful and he couldn’t help himself.

 

“I’ll drive,” Ella said quietly.

 

Robb was a little buzzed but still the most responsible guy that Jon knew so he nodded at her. Ella it seemed was the only one of them that hadn’t had anything to drink, so she eased the boat away from the dock.

 

They all sat in silence on the ride home and it reminded Jon of when they used to go on the big boat for the 4th of July with the rest of the Starks. There would always be so much excitement at the beginning of the night, but after the fireworks, after they’d packed everything up, they would all just ride back in silence, huddled together for warmth. Jon would never tell anyone this, but it was always when he felt safest, being driven home by Ned, his proxy siblings surrounding him like a pack of wolves.

 

He sat next to Ella. She had learned to drive the boat the summer she was ten and was very capable, but he knew that driving at night still freaked her out a bit, so he kept a watch out.

 

“It’d be so much easier if you told her,” Ella said softly, and he knew that with the engine of the boat and the whistle of the wind no one else could here her.

 

“You know that isn’t true,” Jon said.

 

_How can I tell Robb that I have feelings for his sister? What happens if she doesn’t like me back, or what happens if we break up? Do I just lose them all?_

 

Ella sighed and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She smelled like a mixture of her and Robb, and that’s when he remembered the sweatshirt she wore.

 

“I’m sorry, about before,” he said. “With Ygritte, the sweatshirt…I shouldn’t have…”

 

“I’m fifteen Jon,” she said dismissively, though he had seen the look in her eyes earlier in the night. “I should learn to bring my own sweatshirt.”

 

“No you shouldn’t,” he argued, irrationally annoyed though she was being kinder than he deserved as usual. “That’s not _us_ ,” he said, trying to find the right words to explain how he felt.

 

It was his job to protect Ella. That much was clear, that much had always been clear. She had always been the more fearless of the two girls, never afraid to jump from the highest rock, never afraid to stand up to someone when they slighted one of them. She could take on anything, anyone, but it was his job to make sure she never did it alone. She needed less protection than anyone he knew and yet, it was still his job to protect her, to jump first, to stand by her and say to the person _Do it, I dare you. Make my day._ As silly as it was, he never wanted her to bring a sweatshirt because she didn’t trust him to keep her warm.

 

Deep down he knew that there was something else there too. She wore Robb’s sweatshirt now and that, more than anything, told him that things were changing, that they were all growing up. For he was not the only one who’d fallen for a girl he’d grown up with, and one of these days she was going to know it.

 

Ella eased them against the Stark’s dock and he and Theon hoped out to tie up the boat. They all started unloading, having learned from an early age never to leave things on the boat overnight. _It either rains or the ants come_ , Catelyn would say.

 

“Come on Dove, let’s go to bed,” Ella said, offering her hand to Sansa from the dock. He, Robb and Theon had all extended their hands as well but Sansa placed her’s in Ella’s. “Happy 4th, everyone,” Ella said, though from her tone she knew how odd that sounded.

 

“Happy 4th,” the boys all echoed.

 

The three of them stood on the dock as they watched the girls disappear up the steps. They knew better than to follow them immediately and waited until the girls disappeared.

 

Theon’s phone buzzed and he let out a cackle, turning to him, “Dude, Roslin and Ygritte want us to come meet them. I guess Ygritte’s parents aren’t coming home tonight.”

 

“All of us?,” Jon asked awkwardly.

 

Robb gave a little half-smile and shook his head, “You guys go ahead, I’m going to turn in.”

 

“Are you sure?,” Jon asked, feeling like he was breaking some rule he couldn’t place.

 

“Yeah… just walk though…Dad’d kill me if I let you take the boat now,” he said.

 

Theon nodded, though it was he that would be replacing Robb in the scenario he didn’t look the least bit sorry. Not that he should, Roslin never stood a chance with Robb anyway.

 

“Come on dude, they’re turning on the hot tub,” Theon all but squealed and after they shouted goodnights at Robb, he walked up the steps back to the house.

 

“Doesn’t it bother you,” he asked Theon on the walk over. “That earlier tonight you didn’t have a chance with Roslin?”

 

He didn’t ask it to be cruel, he was just genuinely curious. He wasn’t sure that he could stand to be someone’s second choice.

 

“Dude _no_ , have you seen her? Besides, I’m not like you and Robb, I’m not looking for my wife when I’m seventeen,” Theon said.

 

“Ygritte is definitely not going to be my wife,” Jon said more vehemently than he’d meant to. There was nothing wrong with Ygritte. She could be a little prickly but she was pretty and fun and just a bit wild.

 

Theon let out a harsh laugh, “Obviously. That’s not who I’m talking about though and we both know it.”

 

Jon shifted uncomfortably. He forgot, with Theon being such an ass sometimes, how perceptive he could be.

 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Jon lied poorly.

 

“I’m not judging you, man,” Theon said. “I get it… she’s…she’s Sansa. But you’re seventeen, you’ve got the rest of your life to be with her.”

 

 _What if I want the rest of my life to start now?_ , he wondered.

 

“You think?,” Jon asked.

 

“I know,” Theon confirmed. “A girl like that turns you into a man. It’s not her fault, it’s just what happens. You don’t love a girl like that without it changing you. But for now…let’s just be _kids_ , because it’s fun and it feels good and nothing matters.”

 

Jon nodded. Theon had always had a streak for being unexpectedly wise.

 

They’d approached Ygritte’s house and heard splashing out back. What they saw stopped Jon’s heart.

 

“Roslin didn’t have a swimsuit, hope you don’t mind,” Ygritte said with a grin, not even trying to hide her naked body.

 

“God bless America,” Theon whooped and shed his clothes, canonballing into the giant hot tub and making the girls scream.

 

Jon took off his clothes too, because as odd as it was to admit, Theon was right. He had his whole life to be a man, but for now he didn’t want to be. Everything around them was changing and he wanted it all to slow down, so he jumped in the hot tub because he was a kid, because it was fun, and with Ygritte pressed against him, it felt really good.

 

 

***

 

 

There are few things quite so heartbreaking for a fifteen year old girl than watching her best friend crying over something she can’t understand.

 

“Sansa, just get some sleep, you’ll see everything will be brighter in the morning,” Ella said as she pulled the covers up to Sansa’s chin.

 

“We were just dancing,” Sansa said for the tenth time.

 

“I know, sweetling, you didn’t do anything wrong, Jon was just being Jon,” Ella offered. _Plus he’s in love with you._

 

“He treated me like a child,” Sansa argued.

 

“No, _he_ looked like a child,” Ella corrected, meaning it. “People were laughing at him, not you.”

 

It was true, all of the laughter and comments were saying pretty much the same thing. Richard had mentioned it earlier in the night, how he was surprised the wolves had let them out. The way Jon, Robb and Theon looked out for her and Sansa made people roll their eyes, which was fair when one considered that they’d grown up with all these people, and none of the boys they knew would be stupid enough to hurt them.

 

“Really?,” Sansa asked, a small smile on her face.

 

“Oh yeah,” Ella nodded with a grin, “He looked like a major idiot.”

 

“He _is_ a major idiot,” Sansa grumbled, but the fight had gone out of her.

 

“Who loves you,” Ella said, because she couldn’t help herself. She wouldn’t give the game away, not before Jon was ready, certainly not when he’d been cozying up to some other girl all night, but she couldn’t have Sansa going to bed only angry with him.

 

“I know,” she huffed in annoyance.

 

“Do you want me to stay with you?,” Ella asked.

 

“No I’m okay, though I reserve the right to sneak into your bed if I can’t sleep,” Sansa said.

 

“Seems fair,” Ella said with a grin. She kissed her forehead and went to shut off the light.

 

“Hey El?,” Sansa called softly.

 

“Yeah Dove?,” she answered.

 

“Will you help me choose what to wear tomorrow for my date?,” Sansa asked.

 

Ella’s heart constricted. Willas was a nice guy, an _obscenely_ nice guy actually. He’d rescued her and Arya once when a rock had pierced their kayak, and had made Arya laugh the whole way home, forgetting the tears she’d shed in embarrassment. So really, if Sansa was going to go out with someone else, Willas, with his sandy brown hair and warm blue eyes and his easy, gentle smile was the exact person she’d choose.

 

“He’s going to collapse spontaneously when he sees you, promise,” Ella said and closed the door behind her.

 

She went to go into her room, but realised that she had never really eaten dinner. The Starks always barbecued on the big boat, so she hadn’t thought to bring anything along tonight, and she wasn’t the sort to fill up on chips alone.

 

She went down the back staircase that lead directly to the kitchen, careful to walk with light footsteps so as not to wake Rickon whose bedroom was closest.

 

She was surprised to find Robb standing at the fridge, clearly with the same idea in mind.

 

“Hey,” she said softly, but he still jumped and turned around.

 

“Jesus El, you scared me,” he said and then laughed at himself. “Sansa alright?”

 

“She’s fine just…frustrated,” Ella said honestly.

 

“Was it really that bad?,” Robb asked with a sympathetic grimace.

 

“It was pretty bad,” she confirmed. “Is that….the fried chicken?”

 

He grinned, “Yeah, I’m _starving_. We always forget to bring stuff to eat. Do you want some?”

 

“Please, ooh and is there any of the salad left?,” she wondered, sneaking in next to him to rummage through the shelves. Robb was notoriously bad at finding things in the fridge, he could be looking at six different kinds of mustard and claim there wasn’t any in there.

 

She was right up against him as she pulled the salad out and blushed. It was different being this close to him without Sansa around. He took the bowl from her and she turned back around grabbing the macaroni and cheese for good measure.

 

They spread out their booty on the island and Robb poured them glasses of water while she grabbed knives and forks. They worked in silence as they uncovered everything.

 

She took a bite of the macaroni and cheese and fought back a moan, giggling instead. 

“Your mom is a witch,” she said gleefully.

 

“Oh my god how is it better cold?,” he asked taking a bite of the fried chicken.

 

They enjoyed the food in relative silence sitting side by side at the island. Their forearms brushed every so often when one or the other went to reach for something and for the first time that evening she felt truly comfortable. Which was strange, in a way.

 

“Thanks for bringing us tonight,” she said, because it seemed like the polite thing to say.

 

Robb looked at her like she’d gone mad, and said, “You’re welcome,” because that is what he’d been raised to say when someone thanked him. “It was a bit of a train wreck, huh?”

 

She thought back on the evening. The awkwardness she’d felt with Roslin and Ygritte there, Sansa’s tears, Jon’s sorry heart. Then she thought about Robb making her laugh as they made their drinks, or pulling on his enormous cozy sweatshirt, or the way it felt to be in his arms.

 

“Not all of it,” she said shaking her head. She chanced a look at him and found him looking at her in a way that excited her and terrified her all at once.

 

Whatever it was only passed over his eyes briefly, and he gave her his lopsided grin and turned back to their feast.

 

“Did Jon and Theon go to bed?,” she wondered aloud. It seemed hard to believe that they too were not scavenging for food.

 

“No, they went to hang out with Ygritte and Roslin in Ygritte’s hot tub,” he said, chewing purposefully as she looked over at him.

 

“Are you okay with that?,” she asked, a knot forming in her stomach that she couldn’t quite understand.

 

“Yeah, they can do whatever they want,” he said, either not understanding or refusing to acknowledge the real question.

 

“Roslin’s pretty,” she ventured, though she wasn’t sure why. She was like a girl in a scary movie that went into the creepy basement even though everyone in the audience was yelling not to.

 

“Very pretty,” he nodded.

 

“I thought that… never mind,” she said, shaking her head. It was none of her business, even though for some reason it felt like it was.

 

“I’m not jealous that Theon is there with her right now though,” he said, answering her unasked question, “Not even a little.”

 

“You prefer fried chicken to hot tubs?,” she joked, because it was all beginning to feel too serious. Because she knew exactly why she felt awkward that Roslin and Ygritte had been there and exactly why it felt so good to be in Robb’s arms and it would change everything and she still felt like a kid most of the time.

 

“No contest,” he said earnestly, and took a huge bite of fried chicken for emphasis, though she was pretty sure they weren’t talking about fried chicken.

 

She couldn’t stop the blush that rose on her cheeks so she busied herself by bringing the now empty container of macaroni and cheese to the sink, rinsing it out so she could put it in the dishwasher.

 

“No wonder you’re my mom’s favorite kid,” he said behind her and she popped up and smiled.

 

“Oh please, Rickon’s her favorite,” Ella said with an eye roll and he threw his head back and laughed before she could shush him.

 

“Do you want any more of this?,” he asked her, holding up the container of fried chicken.

 

“No I’m full, thank you,” she said and he nodded, recovering it and putting it and the salad back in the fridge.

 

They put everything away and he stretched, “You tired?”

 

“I should be,” she said, _but there’s no way I can sleep now_ , “But I’m not.”

 

“Me too,” he confirmed, though she was pretty sure she’d seen him yawn a few minutes ago. “Want to watch a movie or something?”

 

“Yeah….let me just go change into pajamas,” she said. She went to run out of the room, pulling the sweatshirt off of her when she turned. “Here, I should give you this back.”

 

“Oh…no…don’t…don’t worry about it,” he argued, even though he loved this sweatshirt. “Hold onto it.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really.”

 

She nodded and hurried up the stairs. Once she was in her room she let out an insane little shimmy, trying to get the nerves out.

 

_Calm down, calm down. You are just watching a movie. You do this all the time. This isn’t anything, it’s nothing it’s just…two friends watching a movie. He’s just Sansa’s older brother… just Sansa’s gorgeous, sweet, funny older brother who just looked at you like…I don’t even know what. Okay…calm….calm….CALM._

 

It wasn’t working, so she decided to just get changed. She wasn’t exactly sure what to wear. In truth it really shouldn’t manner, because he’d seen her in every state imaginable (not to mention in her underwear earlier this evening). She settled on a pair of flannel pajama shorts and a long sleeve shirt of Jon’s that she had in her drawer from his pre-Ygritte days. She stepped into her slippers and fluffed her hair. Between swimming and the wind it should have been crazy but it had fallen in soft curls, tamed into submission after years on the lake. She was about to leave her room but then thought better of it and went to brush her teeth. _What if he thinks I did that so he’d kiss me? Well isn’t that kind of the reason? No, you’re getting ready for bed, you just ate…it’s totally normal._

 

Before she could think herself into a panic attack she shut the door and went back down the stairs. She found Robb sitting on the big sectional, wearing pajama pants and a t shirt like it was no big deal.

 

She sat down on the couch to him close to him, but not too close, and smiled when he looked over at her.

 

“What do you want to watch?,” he asked, “Something funny or … scary?”

 

Something flashed into her mind. A conversation she’d overheard in debate practice. One of the older girls, Margery, had said that guys always put on scary movies if they wanted to ‘hook up’. Ella looked at Robb. He, wearing flannel pajama bottoms that his mom had bought him for Christmas and a t shirt from the 5k that he and Sansa had run, didn’t look like the type of boy who was just trying to ‘hook up’ with her, even if he was seventeen and gorgeous.

 

“Scary sounds good…,” she said and he grinned.

 

He picked a combination of both, the original Scream, and they settled into watch.

 

“Her hair is so iconic in this,” Ella said of Drew Barrymore’s look in the opening scene.

 

“Everything _about_ this scene is iconic,” Robb amended.

 

In spite of herself, she jumped when the killer said “ _I want to know who I’m looking at_ ”. She’s seen the movie a thousand times and it still got her every time. Robb grinned at her and lifted his arm up. _Is this it?_ she wondered, but the movie was still going on and Drew Barrymore was closer and closer to her death so she leaned against him. His arm wrapped around her and she rested on his chest. She wondered if he was scared of the movie too, with the way his heart was beating so wildly, or if it could be something else.

 

“If you get too scared we can watch something else,” he said against her hair.

 

 _I’m not scared now_ , she almost said, but was afraid she’d die of embarrassment.

 

“I’ll be okay, as long as you don’t mind my hiding in your chest,” she said instead though and blushed from her cheeks down to her toes.

 

He pulled her closer though, trailing his fingers down her arm briefly, “I don’t mind.”

 

Maybe the beat of his heart did mean something, and maybe it didn’t. All she knew was that everything seemed to be changing so quickly, but here, in the Stark’s lake house, in Robb’s arms, she found that change didn’t have to be scary.


	2. Darlin' you send me

“So then what happened?,” Sansa asked lazily.

 

She was spread out on a blanket on a shady part of the beach, laying on her stomach and resting her cheek against her forearm. There was a light breeze and she’d fallen in and out of sleep for the better part of the morning. It felt like quintessential summer, with the smell of sunscreen and the water lapping gently at the shore.

 

“Tatum gets cut in half by the garage door,” Ella answers, just as lazily.

 

She was laying beside her on her back with her head resting on Lady, Sansa’s black lab/german shepherd mix, who had followed them down to the beach, excited for a day with her girls.

 

“ _Ella_ ,” Sansa said, reaching out to nudge her with her toe but missing and catching only air.

 

Ella turned her head and smiled, scrunching up her nose that was pink from the sun, “Nothing happened, we just watched the movie.”

 

“And cuddled,” Sansa pointed out, “And _fell asleep_.”

 

It had been the major topic of discussion at the breakfast table that morning. Apparently Robb and Ella had watched a movie together and fallen asleep, only to be discovered by her father in the morning.

 

“It was late!,” Ella protested, reaching behind her and stroking Lady’s ears, the dog letting out a contented hum.

 

“Mmhm…,” Sansa said knowingly. It was only a matter of time before things well and truly changed between Ella and Robb.

 

For some girls it may be weird for their best friend to date their brother, but Sansa couldn’t imagine anything better. Ella was as much a sister to her as Arya, and Robb was all Sansa could hope for her in a boyfriend. He was kind and funny and smart, and he had treated Ella like secret treasure ever since they were little kids. He’d be devoted to her, and if anyone deserved devotion it was Ella. On the other hand, Ella was everything she could hope for Robb. Sweet and beautiful and fun, who was always careful with people’s hearts and who wouldn’t take him away from his family, from her, because she _was_ family.It was very clear to her fifteen year old self that they were _meant to be_ and she was losing patience in waiting for them to act on it - even if the anticipation was the most squeal inducing torture.

 

Her father had a very good time teasing Robb and Ella at breakfast that morning, even after her mother had shushed him. Sansa secretly wondered if her parents hadn’t been hoping this would happen too, from the way Catelyn looked at Ella so tenderly and the proud look Ned had on his face even when he was teasing Robb. They had taken it in stride, though they couldn’t quite look each other in the eye for the rest of breakfast, and it had been Ella’s idea to go off on their own that morning.

 

Though that could have been to keep Sansa away from Jon.

 

He’d come to apologise to her that morning, bringing her a little bouquet of wildflowers that he’d even tied with a blue ribbon, and it had _seemed_ like everything was going to be fine. But then he’d acted like a big dumb dummy as though he couldn’t help it.

 

_“So I’m forgiven?,” he’d asked her, that sheepish grin that never failed to make her insides turn to mush on his face._

 

_“I guess so…,” she answered, smelling the flowers as she put them in a vase on the table next to her bed._

 

_“Thank god. You know I can’t function if you and I are not okay…the sun seems dim, food turns to dust in my mouth…,” he said with a teasing smile._

 

_She shoved him and he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. He wasn’t wearing cologne but he was fresh from the shower and he smelled like himself again. She couldn’t help it, she melted against him and wrapped her arms around his back, nuzzling into his neck. He held her for a moment, letting out one deep sigh, then released her._

 

_“What do you say I make it up to you tonight? I’ll take you and Ella for ice cream in the boat,” he offered._

 

_She looked at him warily, those same insides twisting in knots, “Oh…could we…do it tomorrow? I have my date…”_

 

_“You have your WHAT?,” he’d asked, his dark grey eyes turning stormy._

 

_“My DATE,” she repeated indignantly, “With Willas.”_

 

_“Does your father know about this?,” he asked, sounding like a father and a child all at once._

 

_“Yes and he thinks its a GREAT idea,” Sansa lied. In truth her mother had to convince her father to let her go, reminding him what a nice boy Willas was and how Robb had been allowed to date at her age and how they weren’t going to be those parents with different rules for their sons and their daughters now were they?_

 

_“Does Robb know?,” Jon asked with a smug expression. She was caught there. As far as she knew, Robb didn’t know and he wouldn’t be happy about it when he did._

 

_“It’s none of his concern,” she said primly, channeling her inner Ella Baratheon._

 

_“You’re his sister,” he pointed out._

 

_“Well I’m not YOUR sister,” she said angrily._

 

_“You think I don’t know that?,” he asked her, just as angry. It caught her off guard because sometimes she really did wonder if he knew that._

 

_“So remind me, Jon, what exactly were you apologising for?,” she asked him, “Were you really even sorry at all?”_

 

_“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he answered her. She could respect him, at least, for being honest, but that was all._

 

_She fought back tears, angry stubborn tears. She wasn’t even sure why she was so upset, but it seemed like all she wanted to do around him recently was cry._

 

_“You know what Jon, why don’t you take Ygritte out for ice cream tonight, and give her these while you’re at it!,” she hissed, holding the vase of flowers out in front of her._

 

_“Sansa…,” he said, an expression of worry on his face._

 

_“Just take them and go Jon,” she pleaded._

 

_He looked at her like he wanted to say something. Like he was genuinely confused that this was the way the conversation had gone. She knew if he said anything else that she would well and truly start to cry and she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction._

 

_He took the vase out of her hand and walked out of the room without another word._

 

“So let’s talk about _you,_ Dovey,” Ella said with a smile, “Where is the handsome Mr. Tyrell taking you?”

 

“To the drive-in,” Sansa said, her cheeks warming at the thought. It was so grown-up she could hardly take it.

 

“Boat or car?,” Ella clarified.

 

“Boat,” Sansa answered.

 

“Hmm, alright. So we need something warm but not _too_ warm,” Ella said with a grin, “We want him to warm you up a bit, don’t we?”

 

Sansa giggled and thought about it. It wasn’t hard to imagine Willas warming her up. He was a gentleman, but he was like sunshine. He was the exact opposite to the brooding Jon Snow, always smiling, always open.

 

“We should at least give him the opportunity…,” Sansa suggested.

 

They spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, giggling and talking about nothing, the way you only do with your very best friend. They went swimming with Lady and fell asleep while the warm breeze caressed their skin and only returned to the house when it was four o’clock and time for her to start getting ready.

 

They went into her room and she went immediately into the shower, Ella going to her closet to start pulling out options.

 

When she got out, she wrapped herself in her bathrobe and padded out to the room. She looked at her nightstand, and saw a vase filled with wildflowers resting on it. She walked over and saw that a note was slipped under the vase.

 

_Sansa,_

 

_These belong to you, I could never give them to someone else._

 

_Jon_

 

“Those are pretty,” Ella offered from her closet, holding up two different shirts, “Did you pick them?”

 

“No…,” Sansa said, shaking her head. Her blue eyes meet Ella’s green ones and just like that, she feels like crying all over again. It was so frustrating to feel like this all the time and not understand why.

 

“Jon loves that field,” Ella said with a small smile, referencing the field next to the boathouse where these flowers grew, “Even though he always gets caught in the brambles.”

 

Sansa let out a little giggle. Ella always knew how to pull her out of her moods.

 

“He deserved a few brambles,” Sansa offered and Ella nodded, “He did at that.”

 

Ella laid out her outfit on the bed. It was a pair of white jeans and a navy blue tank top with a high neck that would please her father, with a soft grey cashmere sweater to bring along and her silver Jack Rogers.

 

“Where your hair in a high pony tail and no make-up,” Ella suggested.

 

“It’s a date,” Sansa argued. Ella never wore make-up, she didn’t have to with a face like hers, but Sansa liked wearing it every so often and a date with an older boy seemed like the perfect opportunity.

 

“I know, and he’s been going out with girls for a few years, and every single one of them wore eye make up and convexed their face or whatever. He’s never gone out with Sansa Stark. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met, you’re the real deal, he should know it,” Ella said.

 

“Maybe just chapstick?,” Sansa asked.

 

“Now why would you need chapstick?,” Ella asked with a teasing grin.

 

***

 

Robb was on the terrace with Bran and his parents when Sansa and Ella came out.

 

He was relieved when he saw Sansa, she still looked like her. He could probably credit Ella for her fresh face, but she still looked beautiful and oddly grown up.

 

“You look lovely, darling,” his mother said with a smile and Sansa beamed.

 

“You’ll be home at 10?,” his father asked, like it was a question, though they all knew it wasn’t.

 

“10,” Sansa said, grabbing her phone that was buzzing.

 

“Ella, Robb is taking me for a boat ride tonight, wanna come?,” Bran asked excitedly.

 

 _My brother the wing man_ , Robb thought to himself. He knew Bran wasn’t really trying to help him, he just loved Ella, but even still he was grateful.

 

“That sounds great!,” Ella said, “Let’s all go and we can get ice cream,” she said and sat next to Bran, pointing to the spot in the puzzle in front of them where the piece in his hand would fit.

 

“That sounds good,” Robb agreed, trying not to look at her too long when she whispered something in Bran’s ear that made his little brother laugh.

 

She was still wearing her clothes from the beach, her white bikini straps peaking out of her baby blue cover up. Her golden hair had that rumpled quality that never failed to make him see stars, and her slender limbs were sunkissed, only the tips of her shoulders were pink. He wondered if she’d throat on his sweatshirt right over her outfit on the boat, and wasn’t sure how he’d manage to drive if she did.

 

“Willas’ friend came in unexpectedly…,” Sansa said, a dumbfounded expression on her face.

 

“Oh dear, well there will be other nights,” his mother offered with a look of concern on her face.

 

_What kind of douchebag breaks a date with a girl a half hour before he’s supposed to arrive?_

 

“El he wants to know if you’ll come along too…he says his friend…Trystane something is really nice,” Sansa said, her face with a hopeful smile.

 

Everyone turned to look at Ella, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. He even felt her turn to look at him and he couldn’t bring himself to look back, because she’d know. There was no way she couldn’t know.

 

“Oh…um… well,” Ella started.

 

“But we’re supposed to get ice cream!,” Bran argued.

 

“Stay out of this,” Sansa snapped. That was unlike her, she was always a good older sister to the younger kids, even Arya who tested her. It clearly meant a lot to her.

 

“You should go,” he said, unbelievably. Sansa’s mouth popped open, her eyes with an unspoken apology. He smiled at her in a way that was meant to be reassuring, “You’ll have fun.”

 

“Fine,” Ella said, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she sounded a bit upset. “Tell Willas I’d _love_ to meet Trystane. I’ll just go get changed.”

 

Sansa jumped up and down excitedly as Ella disappeared upstairs. Jon and Theon wandered up from the dock and Robb didn’t miss how Jon looked at Sansa expectantly, who averted his gaze and instead sat down next to Bran and ruffled his hair in silent apology for her rudeness.

 

A little while later, Ella walked back outside. She was wearing jeans and a white high-necked tank top that had a low back, her beautiful blonde hair piled up on the top of her head.

 

“You look _goood_ ,” Theon said and she shoved him before hopping into his lap. “You get all dolled up for me?”

 

“Nope, I’ve got a date apparently,” Ella said.

 

“Since when?,” Jon asked.

 

Just then they all heard a honk from the dock, and a moment later Willas and another guy, _Trystane_ , jogged up to the terrace.

 

“Hello Starks,” Willas said with his trademark sunny demeanor. His eyes trailed to Sansa and Robb watched them as they got wide, “Hi Sansa…you look…,” and then he saw how he, Jon, Theon, Bran and his father all looked at him, “Great.”

 

“Thanks! You must be Trystane,” she said to his companion, an annoyingly handsome guy in pink shorts and a white button down, “Thiiis is Ella.”

 

Ella got out of Theon’s lap, though he pulled her back with a grin when she went to get up, and said, all breezily, like she did this all the time, “Hi.”

 

“No wonder Willas loves it up here,” Trystane said smoothly and Jon met Robb’s gaze with a _what the fuck_ kind of expression.

 

“Well we better get going…,” Willas offered, “I’ll have them back -“

 

“By 10,” his father said.

 

“Ask Robb,” Ella said to Jon, finally answering him, “He’ll tell you all about it.”

 

Robb glared at her. He couldn’t help it. Didn’t she know that he was only doing it to be a good brother? She couldn’t actually think that he _wanted_ her going out with some other guy, could she?

 

“El don’t you want a sweater?,” he called after her dumbly.

 

“Don’t worry man,” Trystane said, and Robb wanted to punch him right in his obnoxiously square jaw, “I’ve got her.”

 

With that they disappeared, sounds of their easy chatter rising up as the boat pulled away.

 

“Doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence,” Bran said and they all looked at him, “Him having her.”

 

***

 

“Absolutely not,” Catelyn said firmly.

 

“Cat…,” Ned said and she fixed him with a look that shut him up quickly, “Sorry boys.”

 

“It just _sounds_ like a good movie,” Robb argued, making everyone, even Bran roll their eyes.

 

“Absolutely not. They are fifteen, Willas is a nice boy, you lot will _not_ ruin this for them,” Catelyn said, looking at him, Robb and Theon as though they all contained explosives somewhere on their person, “I know _exactly_ what has gone on around here as of late and I think you should all take a long hard look at yourselves and think about if you’re proud of your actions.”

 

Jon looked down at the floor. No one could shame them like Cat could. It was her superpower, and she was such a good mom that you always felt sorry for letting her down.

 

“Now, now, I raised Robb to look after his siblings,” Ned said, “We can’t fault him now for doing so.”

 

Cat looked at him like he was an idiot, because he kind of was in this situation.

 

“Sorry Mom,” Robb said, though as far as Jon could tell he had just allowed his little sister _and_ the girl of his dreams to go out on a date so he wasn’t really sure what he was apologising for. “It’s… they’re…”

 

“I know,” Cat said, looking at her eldest more kindly than she had a moment ago. “We love how much you all love them, _is that clear_?,” she asked and waited for him, Robb and Theon to nod, “But sometimes you’ve got to let themlearn things for themselves…”

 

“Fine, though I reserve the right to _destroy_ anyone who teaches them…,” Theon said petulantly.

 

“It’s a compromise,” Ned said with a shrug at Cat.

 

Cat sighed, mumbled something about them being a pack of wolves, and went inside to check on dinner.

 

“Can we still get ice cream, Robb?,” Bran asked, clearly afraid that his fun would be ruined.

 

“Of course, buddy,” Robb agreed, “If you, Arya and Rickon eat good dinners I’ll take you all for a ride over.”

 

Bran grinned and ran inside, calling for his siblings, making all of the dogs bark as they chased him around the house.

 

Jon sighed and walked into the kitchen where Cat was chopping things for a salad. He reached his hand out for the knife and she stroked his cheek and handed it to him, moving to the stove to stir the sauce.

 

He started chopping all of the vegetables for the salad into fine pieces, the way she liked them.

 

“Will Ygritte be joining us for dinner?,” Cat asked him as she added a little more pepper. He was always surprised that she never seemed to use measuring cups or spoons, tossing in a handful of something or other with confidence.

 

“Uh no…,” he said, shaking his head. He hadn’t even thought of it, even though when Theon had been dating Ros last summer she’d joined them almost once a week. That was when the firm Two Hands rule had been made.

 

Cat looked over at him like she wanted to say something, but she only went into the fridge and pulled out another bunch of tri-colored carrots.

 

He wanted to confide in her. She was as much a mother as he’d ever had, and he felt like in a way, she already knew everything he could ever tell her and was only waiting for him to be ready.

 

“Did you put something on that cut?,” she asked, gesturing to the scrape on his shin.

 

“Yeah,” he lied sheepishly and she rolled her eyes, shaking her head like he was well and truly a lost cause.

 

“The flowers were lovely,” she said though, rubbing his back briefly. It was unbelievable but it almost made him want to cry. She gave him one last look, then looked down at the bowl full of vegetables, “That’s ready for dressing. KIIIIIDS _dinner_.”

 

He heard the stampede before he saw it, as the three youngest Starks bounded into the kitchen. They each grabbed a plate off the counter, little Rickon standing on his tip toes to do so, and took it outside to the terrace.

 

He tossed the salad and grabbed it, handing it to Cat so that he could grab the heavier bowl of pasta and meatballs. She smiled lovingly at him and followed him outside.

 

“What does everyone need?,” she asked, checking to make sure each of the younger kids had milk in their glasses and surveying Robb and Theon.

 

“Just you,” Ned said and kissed the back of her hand, making their kids groan. Cat blushed though and not for the first time, Jon thought how truly lucky he was that he had sat next to Robb in preschool.

 

He dug in, Cat was an amazing cook, and listened to Arya talk all about her new counselor at camp, and Theon and Rickon debate the merits of mint chocolate chip versus Rocky Road, and tried all the while not to think about Sansa and Ella on their dates.

 

He looked over at Robb, who was picking at his plate and knew he was trying to do the same.

 

“All good?,” Ned asked them.

 

Robb looked at him and smiled grimly then nodded at his father, “All good.”

 

***

 

The drive-in was one of Ella’s favorite things about the lake. She knew that drive-ins had been popular in the 50s and 60s, but not like this. There was a drive-thru a couple miles down the highway that you could drive to, but this one you could only get to by boat, everyone anchored, sitting up on their bows under blankets and watching movies under the stars.

 

“I love this part,” Sansa said dreamily, her chin resting on her knees where she sat beside her. The movie was Charade and Audrey Hepburn had just learned that Cary Grant was a crook, or so she thought.

 

“Me too,” Ella whispered back.

 

To her surprise she’d been having a nice time. She’d known Willas since she was a kid and had always liked him. He was smart and handsome and was treating her best friend with all the care that she deserved. Trystane too seemed nice, and funny. He’d been cracking them up with stories of his family down in Miami.

 

“Hey, are you cold?,” he asked her, leaning in a little closer to whisper than was exactly necessary.

 

She turned to him and gave him a small smile, not hating the way his golden eyes seemed to be drinking her in, even though she couldn’t help but compare them to a pair of blue ones, “Just a little…”

 

He grinned at her and draped a sweater over her shoulders and she eased her arms into the sleeves, “Thanks.”

 

“It looks better on you,” he offered and she giggled, she couldn’t help it, it was such a lame line. He grinned at her, as though he knew it was and didn’t care.

 

She admired that. That kind of confidence. She wondered if all guys were like that on a date. Smooth. She couldn’t really picture Robb saying something like that though.

 

She shook her head, as though trying to make all thoughts of him fall right out of it, and concentrated on the movie. She adored old movies, always had, they were all so stylish and such an _event_. She got swept up in the mid-Atlantic accents and their fast way of talking and the way everything always came together at the very last moment, as though all of the chaos was leading up to it the whole time.

 

When the movie ended it was 9:35 and she helped turn on the lights and engine as Willas raised the anchor.

 

“Where to?,” Trystane asked gleefully.

 

“It’s getting late…,” she said, knowing what a stickler Ned could be about curfews. He let them push it when they were with the boys but she knew he would not have the same attitude towards their date.

 

“Oh come _on_ , it’s my first night in town…,” Trystane argued, giving her a puppy dog pout.

 

“Well maybe…,” Sansa started and Ella gave her a disbelieving look. Sansa was a _rule follower_. Anyone who knew them would say that Ella was the daredevil, which was really saying something.

 

“Uh Ella’s right,” Willas said, “I don’t think your dad would be very happy with me if I kept you out too late.”

 

“Duude,” Trystane said, reminding her of Theon.

 

 _Here is a boy who has never been told no a day in his life_ , she thought, _I will be such a disappointment to him._

 

“Oh, okay,” Sansa said, looking down at her feet. It was always frustrating to Ella that Sansa couldn’t see herself the way everyone else did, she couldn’t understand how a girl as wonderful and beautiful as her could doubt for a single moment that she’d bewitched the boy in front of her.

 

“But are you going to the party at the Tarly’s tomorrow?,” Willas asked, taking Sansa’s hand in his and rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

 

“Oh…I…,” Sansa started.

 

“Of course we are,” Ella said with a smile, “Wouldn’t miss it.”

 

She knew she could convince the boys to take them, quite easily in fact if she told them that Trystane and Willas were happy to if they didn’t.

 

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Sansa repeated, twirling her pony tail in her fingers. “Want some company back here?”

 

“I’d love some,” Willas said. It made Ella smile just to watch them, grinning at each other like fools. She went to smile at Trystane but she found that his eyes were on her already, and they weren’t laughing. They looked hungry almost.

 

She shifted uncomfortably and took her seat, ready for the wind to make talking impossible. Trystane sat next to her, his arm pressed against hers and she sighed hoping he hadn’t mistaken her eagerness about the party.

 

The ride back to the house was brief, and when they docked she took off Trystane’s sweater.

 

“Thanks, it was nice to meet you!,” she said.

 

“Well can I get your number?,” he asked her with a grin.

 

“Calm down man, you’ll see her tomorrow,” Willas said with an easy grin, but when she smiled at him he gave her a more serious one. _Oh Willas, you really are one of the good ones, aren’t you?_

 

“Thanks Willas,” she said, kissing his cheek and hopped out of the boat, not bothering to explain what she was thanking him for.

 

“Can I walk you up?,” she heard him ask Sansa as she bounded up the stairs.

 

“Oh, uh…my Dad is probably waiting up for me…,” she heard Sansa say softly.

 

She knew she shouldn’t but she turned around, looking at them through the trees. She saw Willas take her hand in his once again, playing with it softly.

 

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?,” Willas asked her.

 

“Yeah…I’ll see you then,” Sansa answered.

 

“I had a really nice time,” he said, taking her other hand.

 

“Me too,” Sansa returned, and she could hear the smile in her voice.

 

“Oh man will you just kiss her already,” Trystane said and Ella wanted to march down there and give him a piece of her mind.

 

She heard Willas chuckle, but then he stopped. He pulled Sansa a little closer and pressed a kiss to her lips. _Her first kiss,_ Ella thought, _I wonder if its everything we thought it would be._

 

She turned and bounded up the stairs, racing into the house, not wanting to be caught spying and nearly screamed when a voice cut her off.

 

“Did you have fun?,” Robb asked. He was reclining on the couch on the terrace underneath one of the lights reading a book.

 

“Oh…yeah…,” she nodded, catching her breath, “Great time…”

 

He looked at her nodded, like he wanted to say something else, but he only said, “That’s great, El.”

 

She wanted to tell him that she only had a great time because she got to watch one of her favorite movies, and because she was with her best friend and the really nice boy who liked her. She wanted to tell him that it didn’t have anything to do with Trystane at all, because it didn’t, and that she would have rather gone for ice cream with him and the kids, which she would have. She wants to tell him that Trystane’s sweater hadn’t felt half as warm as his sweatshirt and that she didn’t like the way he’d looked at her in the end. She wanted to tell him that she’d never slept more soundly than she had last night and that everything around them seemed really scary until she looked in his eyes.

 

But all she said was, “Will you take us to Sam Tarly’s party tomorrow night?”

 

“We were planning on going,” he nodded, “Got another date?”

 

“Trystane will be there but…,” she started, “I want… can I go with _you_?”

 

She felt like he must be able to see directly into her soul, how could he not? How much more obvious could she be? Every article in cosmo told her not to do what she was doing right now but they didn’t know Robb Stark. He was the kind of boy you could hand your heart to for safe keeping.

 

He sat up and looked at her as though he was trying to figure out if she just said what he thought he did. He shook himself out of it quickly though, nodding, “Of course you can, you never have to ask” he said, “Trystane will be disappointed,” he added a bit smugly.

 

She rolled her eyes, “It’ll be good for him, trust me.”

 

“I got you honey lavender,” he said softly, like a declaration of love, “It’s in the freezer.”

 

“Want to split it?,” she asked and he nodded at her grinning.

 

She raced into the house, up to her room and took off her jeans, pulling on a pair of sleep shorts, and then went and grabbed his sweatshirt where she’d folded it neatly in her drawer next to her grandmother’s pearls, her most prized possessions. She tugged it on and went down the stairs, grabbing the carton of honey lavender ice cream and two spoons, not wanting to be _too_ obvious. She saw the lemon sorbet in there and grabbed it and an extra spoon too.

 

She came back out on the deck and found Robb and Sansa talking. Robb looked grim and Sansa looked happy and she handed her the carton of lemon sorbet and a spoon before plopping herself down next to Robb.

 

His grin returned when she handed him his spoon and he, ever the gentleman, let her take the first bite. It was creamy and subtle and made her feel like it was well and truly summer.

 

“Hey Robb, are you going to the Tarly’s party tomorrow night?,” Sansa asked as she ate her sorbet daintily.

 

“Is that tomorrow?,” Robb asked and Ella had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, “Yeah probably. You guys want to come?”

 

“Sounds great!,” Sansa gushed, “I’m going to head to bed, night guys.”

 

“Night,” they both chorused and ate in silence as they heard her pad up the stairs.

 

“Well done,” she said, shaking her head at him like the fool he was.

 

“What can I say, I’m very smooth,” he said, turning to her and wiping a bit of ice cream off the side of her lip with his thumb. He brought it to his lips and licked it clean.

 

 _I guess he is after all_ , she thought, but it didn’t make her uncomfortable like it had with Trystane.

 

“Very,” she agreed, and smiled at him. He wasn’t smiling at her though, the look in his eyes was almost hungry.

 

He leaned in closer and pressed his lips to hers softly. He tasted like honey and lavender and he held her like she was precious and it was so right that her first kiss was with him, so she leaned into him a little bit more and it was everything she’d thought it would be.


	3. In the still of the night

“Woah,” Sansa said as she turned around fastening her earring.

 

Her room was littered with discarded clothes, Is Tropical was blaring from her speakers, and she and Ella had been drinking iced coffees and painting their toenails for the better part of the afternoon.

 

They had finally started getting ready for the party though, and Ella had put on a light blue sundress with a criss-crossed neck and back that was fitted through her slender torso and flared out like a lily just before her hips. She’d paired it with her muted gold Jack Rogers and had pulled her hair off of her face in a simple half-up style that showed off her swan-like neck and tanned shoulders.

 

“Good?,” Ella asked, turning in the mirror and sucking in her already tiny tummy.

 

“Perfect,” Sansa assured her.

 

“And it’s got pockets,” Ella said, sticking her phone in and sitting in Sansa’s oversized arm chair, beckoning Grey Wind over to her. The dopey bloodhound ambled over to her happily and placed his head upon her knees and looking up at her with the same devotion his master did.

 

“Now what do I wear?,” she asked as Ella was rubbing Grey Wind’s face vigorously as his tail thwacked repeatedly on the floor.

 

“Wear the pink,” she said, “With your white sandals and leave your hair down.”

 

Sansa pulled on the pink sundress. They’d bought it last month on one of their shopping trips with her mother, and she’d remembered loving it in the store, but now it made her look odd. She pulled it off in annoyance and surveyed hercloset in her yellow bra and underwear.

 

“You could go like that, give Willas a real thrill,” Ella said teasingly.

 

Sansa rolled her eyes and pulled out a long sleeved navy blue playsuit. She liked the way it cinched her at the waist, which wasn’t quite as narrow as Ella’s because she was taller, but was still very narrow, and showed off her long legs. She pulled on a pair gold sandles and pulled her hair into a topknot. She put a bit of gold liquid eyeliner on the top of her eyes and threw on a bit of mascara.

 

“Well?,” she asked, hands on her hips.

 

“That’ll do,” Ella said with a playful grin.

 

They clunked down the stairs, Lady and Grey Wind following them, and joined the rest of her family for dinner. They were just barbecuing tonight, so her father was in charge, with Robb as his sous-chef. He liked to take these opportunities to explain to Robb how he had to _love the meat_ , never realising how truly dirty he sounded.

 

“Sansa I’ve got your hotdog nearly ready, Ella dear do you want cheese on this ball o’meat?,” her father asked.

 

Ella pinched her to stop her from laughing and said, “Yes please, cheddar if you have it. Thanks Ned.”

 

“You got it girlfriend,” he answered and now even Ella, who was always the kindest to him, was giggling.

 

Robb looked like he wanted to die, and then he looked at Ella and Sansa thought he actually _might_ die. They’d been acting strange around each other all day today and it had been Ella who suggested they go upstairs when Roslin and Ygritte came over on Roslin’s dad’s boat, waving at them cheerfully before heading up the stairs.

 

“You guys look nice,” he said.

 

“Thanks Wolf,” she said happily and Ella only blushed.

 

“You do look lovely,” her mom said and Sansa went to sit down next to her. She may be going on a date with a seventeen year old boy, but she still liked to cuddle with her mom so she laid her head on her shoulder tickling little Rickon who was sitting on her lap.

 

“Sannnny,” he pleaded but hopped into her lap anyway and wrapped his little boy arms around her. “You look baaayootiful.”

 

“No you,” she argued.

 

“No yooou,” he giggled back, settling in against her.

 

Sansa watched as Ella went to join Robb and their dad at the grill, nodding at Ned as he gestured to it. She and Robb would sneak smiles at each other every so often, before Ella said something that brought out their father’s hearty chuckle.

 

Ella held one of the platters as their dad piled hotdogs and burgers on it.

 

“Here El, I got it,” Jon said as he stepped onto the terrace and took the overwhelming platter from her.

 

Her dad turned off the grill and followed Jon, sitting at the seat on the opposite side of the table. Arya came and sat on her other side, grabbing a piece of corn with her bare hands before her mother could chide her.

 

Robb and Ella walked back to the table and Bran nearly choked when Robb pulled out a chair for Ella. Her best friend was beet red as she sat down next to Jon, who looked at Robb warily before pouring Ella some water.

 

Robb averted everyone’s gaze and sat next to Ella, plopping a hot dog on Bran’s plate for him.

 

“So what’s the plan tonight?,” her father asked.

 

“Tarly’s,” Theon, Jon and Robb all answered.

 

“Us too,” Sansa nodded.

 

“You’ll be home by -,” her father started.

 

“Midnight,” Robb answered, and everyone stopped chewing.

 

“The girls -,” her father started.

 

“Will be well tended,” her mother answered and Sansa caught Ella’s eye, sharing a grin. “We want to _encourage_ them all to spend time together, Ned. We can’t do that by ruining the boys’ fun every time they include them.”

 

“Awww do I ruin your fun?,” Ella teased Jon.

 

“It’s been torture these past fifteen years,” he said with a grimace, and now even her father was smiling which means they’d won.

 

***

 

The party was in full-swing by the time they walked in. Sam’s parents had gone out of town to help their daughter move into her apartment in New York and left Sam and Dickon on their own.

 

The house was situated directly on the lake, so they docked the boat and made their way up. The terrace was filled with their classmates, people they’d all known since preschool, all drinking like it was the end of the world. People were in various states of dress, some as though they’d just come from dinner with their parents, others as though they’d been on the lake all day.

 

Sansa and Ella walked ahead, their arms linked in one another’s before they each got pulled in opposite directions, Sansa into the arms of her friend Jeyne who seemed to be stumbling a bit, and Ella by Dickon, Sam’s little brother who lifted her up like he hadn’t seen her in years, though it had been only two nights.

 

“They’re fucking multiplying,” Jon said, eying the way Dickon’s eyes hadn’t left Ella, drinking her in in that painfully feminine dress and nodding emphatically at whatever she’d said.

 

“Dickon’s a good guy,” Robb offered.

 

“We’re all good guys until a girl like that comes along,” Theon said, then grinned, “Well maybe not _me_ but…”

 

Robb chuckled and grabbed a beer out of the cooler. He should mind, seeing Ella bewitching another guy, even if he was somebody that she’d known her entire life, but he felt oddly calm. There was something about a kiss like that - it made you certain of things you’d only guessed before.

 

Jon looked like he wanted to say something further, but a pair of hands covered his eyes from behind and he grinned, turning around and planting a kiss on Ygritte’s waiting lips.

 

Roslin appeared as well, and if Robb wasn’t mistaken, she gave him a meaningful look before standing on her tiptoes to kiss Theon in greeting. Robb would have laughed at the stunned expression on Theon’s face if he didn’t feel so sorry for Roslin. _You’re not going to be his girlfriend, and you wouldn’t like it if you were._

 

They had a couple of other girls with him, ones he knew vaguely that went to a different prep school than they all did and he waved awkwardly at them. _Smooth_ , he thought.

 

“I want to dance,” Roslin said, shimmying her hips against Theon’s.

 

“Whatever baby wants, baby gets,” Theon said with a lustful grin, “You guys coming?”

 

Ygritte wordlessly dragged Jon along with them and despite his rather awkward introduction, the other girls pulled him along, giggling behind their hands like this was all _so very wild._

 

The girls all seemed to be in very states of drunkenness, and he, Jon and Theon weren’t great dancers to begin with, but it didn’t much seem to matter when the music was good and the beer in his hand was cold. He lived for summer nights like this, they all did, and he gave into it.

 

“SANSA!!!,” Roslin cried and moved out of Theon’s arms to throw her arms around his little sister like they were long lost friends. Sansa looked a little bewildered but hugged her back, a grin on her flushed face.

 

She had Willas in tow who gave him a look like _we good_? Robb nodded at him, eyeing the hands he had on Sansa’s hips warily.

 

His eyes quickly fell to Ella though who he could barely see behind Trystane, her hand firmly in his. She peered around him, her eyes wide as they locked on his, and it hit him like a ton of bricks.

 

He wasn’t entirely sure what to do in the situation, and one of Roslin’s stupid fucking friends grabbed him and started dancing, and Sansa grabbed Ella and he was happy that she was at least detached from Trystane so he danced a little, only sneaking glances every so often. She and Sansa were drinking out of red cups and they looked entirely too grown up for his liking as they moved their hips to the beat, mesmerising the boys in front of them.

 

He was dancing with one of the girls vaguely when he felt a small hand on his arm briefly before it was wrenched away. He turned and saw Trystane towering over Ella, who looked up at him boldly. It was like the music stopped from the way Jon, Theon, Willas and Sansa all stopped dancing.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?,” Trystane asked her.

 

“Away from you and your _wandering hands_ ,” Ella said curtly, completely unafraid.

 

“Did you fucking _touch_ her?,” Theon asked Trystane, getting up in his face.

 

Trystane pushed him away harshly and said, “What’s it to you?”

 

Jon chuckled, “What’s it _to_ us? You’re even dumber than you look.”

 

Trystane looked at them, “Oh I get it… she’s not a prick tease, she’s just all booked up. How does it work? You guys take turns or is it more of an Eiffel Tower situation?”

 

Robb saw red, sirens sounded in his head, he moved forward to murder the stupid look off of his face when Ella let out a cry of pain.

 

Trystane stumbled backwards, blood gushing out of his nose but no one spared a look at him, all anyone looked at was the way Ella was jumping up and down clutching her fist saying “Ow ow ow ow.”

 

“Jesus Ella I was going to do that,” Jon said, pulling her knuckles up to his face so he could look at them.

 

“Who _needs_ you,” Theon said, “You’ve got one hell of a right hook, little one.”

 

“Thanks,” Ella said bashfully, but there were tears pooling in her eyes and she looked down at the floor.

 

He leaned in slowly and touched her arm softly, just as she had done before. “Let me take you for some fresh air.”

 

She looked up at him and nodded, and he didn’t care what anyone thought when he took her hand - the uninjured one - in his and lead her outside. They walked out onto the back porch, and she trailed behind him, holding his hand in both of hers, hiding behind him in a way that made him feel both nervous and proud.

 

He took them away from the crowds, down the backstairs to the beach. She let go of his hand and walked away from him. She turned back and looked at him like she wanted to say something, but instead she turned towards the lake and plopped into the sand. He sat next to her, ready to sit there all night if she needed.

 

“I didn’t tease him,” she said finally, looking at the water.

 

“Even if you had Ella, it’s no excuse,” he said shaking his head, looking at the water as well, wondering how any guy could feel so _fucking entitled_.

 

“But I didn’t,” she said, turning towards him as though it was important for him to look in her eyes and see the truth.

 

He didn’t need to look in her eyes to see the truth, but he looked in them anyway and said, “I know you didn’t.”

 

She nodded at him and turned back towards the water, so he did too. She leaned her head on his shoulder, looking down at her hand. It was starting to swell, he knew they’d have to ice it before she went to bed and his mom would probably want to take her into town tomorrow to have it checked.

 

“Next time, let me do the punching,” he pleaded.

 

“I don’t need anyone fighting my battles for me,” she said primly and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. She never missed a beat.

 

“Fine, Tyson, but when that hand of yours is healed I’m going to teach you how to throw a proper punch,” he said.

 

“Theon said I had a good right hook!,” she said rounding on him, though there was a grin on her face for the first time.

 

“You’ve got a _strong_ right hook, but the trick, little one, is hurting them without hurting yourself too,” he said, picking her hand up gingerly and placing a solitary kiss to her knuckle. He looked up at her and her eyes widened, just like they had last night, like she needed more room to see everything, to see him. It was intoxicating.

 

“You were going to punch him?,” she asked softly.

 

“For starters,” he answered honestly. In truth he wasn’t really sure what he would have done if he’d gotten his hands on him. “Do you want me to grab everyone so we can head out?”

 

“No,” she said, as though she were still making her mind even as she said it. She turned to him and shook her and said, “If I said I wanted to stay, but only if you stayed close, would you mind?”

 

“I wouldn’t mind,” he said, which was an understatement, but it seemed to do the trick because she nodded, taking him at his word like always, and popped up brushing the sand off the backs of her legs.

 

He hopped up too, because that vantage point made his brain cloudy and dusted himself off. She started to head back up the beach and he followed, but he walked slowly, because after knowing her his whole life, something told him she wasn’t quite finished.

 

Like clockwork she turned around and looked at him, “I always found it a little annoying how protective you all are of me.”

 

“Not surprising,” he said with a small smile.

 

“But it isn’t just that, is it?,” she asked, “With us I mean.”

 

“No,” he answered, “It isn’t… but it isn’t _only_ different either.”

 

“Did that make sense in your head?,” she asked with a small smile.

 

 

He sighed, searching for the right words, “All I mean is that if you told me that you never want to kiss me again, I’d find a way to move past it. I’d keep my distance, figure out how to get over it _…_ but I’d never stop looking out for you. There’s no version of reality where that is possible.”

 

“And if I _do_ want to kiss you again?,” she asked with a small smile.

 

“I’m yours for the taking,” he said honestly. There was nobody else for him, no other girl he could imagine wanting the way he wanted her, no other girl that even came close. She gave him a small smile, the same smile she’d given him last night which filled him with enough confidence to say, “So I’m going to walk towards you slowly, and if you don’t want me to kiss you all you have to do is tell me to stop.”

 

She looked him in the eye as he moved closer, just as he’d said, ever so slowly. It hurt to move so slow, when all he wanted to do was run, but there were certain things you didn’t rush, and waiting for a girl like her to tell you she wanted to be yours was one of them. He hadn’t moved three steps when she rushed forward and jumped into his arms.

 

He held her to him, one arm wrapping around her waist while the other cradled her head. Her arms wrapped around his neck, though they needn’t have, he could hold her all night like this if she wanted him to.

 

“You could make a girl go crazy, making her wait like that,” she accused him sweetly.

 

“Just giving you time to change your mind,” he said, rubbing his nose against hers.

 

“It’s not my mind that’d have to change,” she said, looking at him with her jade eyes that shone with trust and want and maybe even a little bit of love, “It’s my heart. And my heart doesn’t change so easy.”

 

She said it like a warning, and there were so many things to say to that. He wanted to tell her that he never wanted her to change anything that would stop her from looking at him like that. He wanted to tell her that he would keep her heart safe, that she could give it to him and she didn’t have to be afraid. He wanted to tell her any number of things, but instead, he leaned in to kiss her, because in the end it was the only thing to do when the girl of your dreams wanted you to.

 

***

 

“Guys, I am _so_ sorry,” Willas said for the fifth time since Trystane left, since Ella and Robb left.

 

“It’s not your fault,” Sansa said sweetly, rubbing his arm and to his credit he only grimaced at her, looking towards Theon and Jon. She looked at them all too and said, “Do you think I should go check on her?”

 

“No, Dove, don’t worry, Robb’s got her,” Theon said, pulling her towards him and kissing her temple.

 

Sansa nodded, burrowing against him. They were all a bit shaken from what had just happened. Jon couldn’t understand how anyone could say something like that to anyone, how any guy could feel so entitled, so sure that a girl would just fall at his feet that he would lash out when she didn’t. It made it all the worse that it had happened to Ella, a true innocent, whom they loved more than anyone. Well not more than Sansa, but it was a tie, and they had always been two sides of the same coin anyway.

 

“Look uh…Trystane’s an ass and I’m going to make damn sure he knows it, but he is staying with me…I should go meet him back at the house…,” Willas said, clearly wanting to do anything but as he looked forlornly over at Sansa.

 

He was an obnoxiously good guy, if he was dating any other girl, Jon wouldn’t hesitate to call him a friend, and even as it was he couldn’t help but respect him.

 

“Really?,” Sansa asked, leaving Theon’s embrace to go back to him. She placed her small hand on his bicep and looked up at him with those sapphire eyes. He knew that look, he was helpless against it, “Could you drop me off on the way?”

 

“You should stay with your friends,” Willas said, “I don’t want to ruin your night anymore than this already has.”

 

Sansa looked down and Jon felt the need to look away. Theon was glaring at Roslin and Ygritte who had the _nerve_ to be giggling, as though they had never been fifteen, as though they had never been rejected.

 

“You wouldn’t be,” Jon heard her say softly and he shut his eyes. He knew that voice, it was the kind of voice that had made him drive twenty miles just to pick up the lemon cakes she loved, the one that had convinced him to sit through a marathon of the Pitch Perfect movies with her because Ella had the flu and they’d already bought the tickets.

 

“Can I take you to lunch tomorrow, just us?,” Willas asked her, just as softly. If they were any other two people Jon would have thought how well suited for one another they were.

 

“If you want,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice now.

 

“There’s a place I’d really like to take you, can I pick you up at noon?,” he asked her and Jon saw Sansa nod out of the corner of his eye, and the way her smile deepened when Willas pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Bye guys… and please um…Jon…can you tell Ella how sorry I am? I never would have introduced them if…anyone just please let her know.”

 

“Of course,” Jon said, and reached forward and shook his hand, because it was the only thing to do and he wasn’t going to let Willas be the better man. “If I know Ella, you’re already forgiven.”

 

Willas nodded and headed out.

 

“Can thus end the drama?,” Ygritte asked, “God you guys would act as though you’ve never seen a guy be an asshole before.”

 

“Guys don’t get to be assholes to the girls we love,” Theon said, voicing what Jon wanted to say, “We don’t take too kindly to it.”

 

“Fair, that’s fair,” Roslin the peacekeeper said, “But now can we have _fun_?”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Ella’s voice piped up, and Jon could have cried to see her smiling like that. She looked at him and said, “What do I want to drink?”

 

He knew she’d had a bit of a drink before any of this happened and on any other night he probably would have tried to persuade her to stop at one, she was after all, only fifteen and probably less than 100 pounds. But not tonight, not when she was smiling again, not when she’d been her own damned hero while the rest of them just stood there and watched her slay dragons, the princess and the knight all at once.

 

“I’m thinking gin,” he said, “Sansa, mind coming with me to help?”

 

Sansa looked at him like she wanted to say no. They hadn’t really spoken since her bedroom, not since he’d told her that he wasn’t sorry, that he would do it all over again. She didn’t say no though and nodded, following him towards the make shift bar.

 

“You alright?,” he asked her, now that they were away from everyone else. He knew what Robb must have said to Ella on the beach, but he wanted to make sure that Sansa knew it too, because she was going out on her own with Willas tomorrow, and because as much as he hated it, he wouldn’t be around every time she might need a hero. She nodded at him but said nothing. “You know that no matter what Ella said or didn’t say, no matter what Trystane believed, that Ella didn’t _owe_ him anything, right?”

 

“She didn’t do anything,” Sansa said, immediately coming to her best friend’s defence. He could have kissed her for that, but all he wanted to do in that moment was to make sure that Sansa knew she had to stick up for herself the way she’d stick up for Ella.

 

“I know she didn’t,” Jon said slowly, as though trying not to spook a doe in the woods. “My point is, even if she _had_ it wouldn’t excuse Trystane’s behavior. She could have locked him a bedroom and told him she wanted to have sex with him and it _wouldn’t matter_.”

 

“You sound like my father,” Sansa said. He knew she meant it as an insult but he took it as a compliment. He couldn’t think of anyone he’d like to grow up like more. “I know that no means no.”

 

“Yes, it does. Of course it does. I’m telling you that it goes further than that though. I’m telling you that _you never have to feel bad about saying no_ ,” he said.

 

“Is this because of my date with Willas tomorrow? He isn’t like Trystane, you saw him! He was as upset as anyone,” she said, her cheeks growing pink in annoyance.

 

Jon sighed. It seemed like everything he did lately upset her. He didn’t want to, it was the last thing he wanted, and yet without fail, nearly all of their conversations seemed to end with tears pooling in her eyes.

 

“I know he was, and I know Willas is a good guy, but I don’t _care_ ,” he nearly growled at her, “You are the most precious thing in the world, do you hear me? There is almost no one in this world that deserves you and you should never, ever, feel about about knowing that.”

 

She looked at him like she wanted to cry, or maybe slap him, it was hard to tell these days. She looked at him for a long while and then she let out an exasperated sigh.

 

“You make it impossible for me to hate you,” she complained.

 

“With great effort,” he said with a sheepish grin.

 

She pursed her lips together to keep from smiling but he knew he had her, so before she could do anything else, he pulled her to him, swaying with her. It took everything in his power to not think about how good she felt in his arms, to not breathe in the smell of her hair too deeply. He swayed with her this way and that until he felt her arms come around him too.

 

“I just love you, you know that,” he said in her ear.

 

“I just love you too, even when I don’t like you,” she said as she pulled away, sticking her tongue out at him.

 

It was easier when she was like this, when he could almost pretend that she was like Ella or Arya, the two other girls that he loved more than his own life, when he could pretend that they were just kids and things weren’t so confusing.

 

He chuckled and nodded as though that was very fair, which it was.

 

“Let’s get you a drink,” he said.

 

“Yes, let’s.”

 

***

 

Jon and Sansa returned, looking happier in one another’s company than they had been all summer, and Jon handed her a solo cup saying, “Trust me”.

 

It tasted fresh and sparked on her tongue. She grinned at him and he pumped his fist in the air in victory, making her toss her head back and laugh. She took another sip and started to shimmy to the beat as the new Foals song came on over the speakers.

 

All her friends started to dance, even Jon who notoriously didn’t, and she turned around to find Robb there, by her side just like he’d promised.

 

They hadn’t talked about what it would be like for their friends to see them together. She wasn’t even sure if they _were_ together in the official sense of the world. All she knew was that he was looking at her like he never wanted to stop and he was moving to the beat and so was she and so it seemed perfectly natural that they would move together.

 

She took another sip of her drink and raised the cup above her head shaking her hips and moving ever so slowly closer to him. He grinned down at her, a fresh beer in his hand, dancing with his arms ever so subtly boxing her in. She looked up at him smiling like a fool, because she was one, for him anyway.

 

To her surprise and delight he took her face between his hands and planted a deep kiss on her lips. When they broke apart she was breathless and she only heard Sansa screaming behind her, before hugging her from behind.

 

“Oh my god, is this real?,” Sansa asked in her ear.

 

She held Sansa tighter against her, moving with her to the beat, but she looked at Robb who looked like he wanted to kiss her again very soon and preferably not in front of his sister.

 

“Yeah Dove,” she said, her eyes never leaving Robb’s, “It’s real.”

 

He grinned at her and Sansa spun her towards him and he caught her easily, like they both knew he would.

 

“I take it my sister approves,” he said in her ear as they swayed back and forth.

 

“More like _my_ best friend approves,” she said and felt his grin against her.

 

“Convenient that,” he noted, one hand splayed against her back while the other pushed her hair off her face. 

 

The gin had made its way into her bloodstream and she was beginning to think that Robb had too, so she snuggled against him, perfectly happy to let him guide her to the beat.

 

They must have all danced for hours. She danced with all of them, Sansa and Theon and Jon, even Ygritte and Roslin, but anytime she turned around, there was Robb waiting for her like he had all the time in the world. She never made him wait long and he twirled her and held her close and would stop at nothing to make her laugh.

 

“Alright troops,” Jon said, “It’s 11:30.”

 

“Nooooo,” her and Sansa cooed at him and he grinned.

 

“I’d do anything for you girls, but I can’t stop time,” he said with a sigh.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep us bumping on the way home,” Theon promised and they acquiesced because they didn’t have a choice. Not with Ned waiting up for them. Not when this was already so much later than they could usually stay out.

 

They all made their way out, after saying goodbye to Roslin and Ygritte. She held Sansa’s hand on the way down to the boat, giggling about nothing and marvelling at the way the stars seemed to shine just for them.

 

Jon hadn’t been drinking so he turned on the boat as Robb and Sansa untied them. They all hopped in and Theon turned on the boat’s speakers and an upbeat rock song came on much to their delight.

 

“I think I’m going to regret introducing you to gin,” Jon said with a grin.

 

She went to sit up on the seat with him and said, “But how could you when I _just love you so much_?”

 

“Fair point,” he said and threw his arm around her, pulling her closer. It was chilly on the water and he was warm, in so many ways, so she curled against him.

 

Robb was dancing with Sansa, twirling his little sister, keeping her steady when either the boat or the gin made her wobbly. It made her smile just to watch them together, it always had. The perfect siblings, best friends and fierce allies.

 

“This thing with Stark,” he said, and as always their thoughts were in line with the others.

 

“Don’t tell me not to,” she pleaded. She couldn’t stand it if he did.

 

“I won’t,” he said, “He’s the only person I can imagine deserving you.”

 

That was the thing about Jon. He could be broody, and stubborn, overprotective to the point of madness, and then he’d go and say a thing like that. He had always known the right thing to say to her and she needed him just as strongly as Sansa needed Robb. She wanted to make him proud, and his blessing meant everything to her.

 

She wrapped her arm around his torso, burrowing into him and he kissed the top of her head, like he used to when he’d let her crawl into his bed during thunderstorms.

 

 _And what about what you deserve?_ she wanted to ask. She’d seen the way he looked at Ygritte. There was attraction, to be sure, but it didn’t compare to the smile he’d had on his face when he’d walked back to the group with Sansa at his side. She was like his own personal sun, and he felt her shadows more acutely than anything else.

 

“I think we should all have what we deserve,” she said, “Especially you.”

 

“That’s my girl,” he said, squeezing her tight, “My loyal, lovely girl.”

 

They pulled up to the dock and all unloaded. Robb offered her his hands and he took them and lifted her and she flinched when he unintentionally pressed on her knuckles.

 

“We need to get some ice on that,” he said to her, his brow creased in concern.

 

“It’s just a little sore,” she promised and she let him lead her up the stairs.

 

“11:47, very impressive,” Ned said as they filed in the back door.

 

“We aim to please,” Jon said, because he was the most sober.

 

Robb took her hand and had her sit at the kitchen island before going to the freezer and pulling out an icepack. Ned looked at him curiously as he wrapped a towel around it and brought it back to her, placing it gently on her hand.

 

“Ella dear, what happened?,” he asked, his brow creased in concern. _So that’s where Robb got it_.

 

“I punched Trystane in the face,” she said honestly.

 

“I’m not angry, but why?,” he asked.

 

“Because he thought he had the right to her body,” Sansa spoke up and Ella’s stomach twisted in knots by the way Ned was looking at her. Robb stepped closer to her, his hand on her shoulder as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. She leaned into his kiss, letting out a steadying breath.

 

“And where were you lot?,” Ned asked the boys crossly. He didn’t take kindly to anyone hurting his kids and had always made it perfectly clear that it was the boys job to look after her and Sansa.

 

“Right behind me,” she answered for them, “Always.”

 

“We’ll get it checked out in the morning if the swelling hasn’t gone down, alright?,” he asked her, “And you’ll tell me if this Trystane bothers you again.”

 

“He won’t,” Theon, Jon and Robb all said.

 

“Good,” Ned answered gruffly. He got a little choked up sometimes when he saw how much they all loved each other. It wasn’t his fault that he was a dorky dad and she smiled sympathetically at him. “Night kids.”

 

“Night,” they all said.

 

“I’m not ready for bed,” Sansa said when he’d gone.

 

“Who said anything about bed?,” Theon asked, holding up a flask and wiggling it at her.

 

“Let’s take it down to the beach, Mom’ll kill us if we wake up the kids,” Robb said, ever the big brother.

 

Everyone raced off to grab sweatshirts and she moved off the chair slowly. Robb took the ice pack gingerly, looking at her hand. The swelling had already gone down and the cold had tempered the pain.

 

They were standing so close to one another and he was looking at her with such concern and she realised in that moment that every time they’d kissed, he had always been the one to kiss her.

 

“Robb, can I try something?,” she asked, suddenly nervous even though his every action had screamed that he’d be okay with it.

 

“Yeah of course,” he said, without any information, without any hesitation either.

 

She looked up at him, at the freckles that dotted the bridge of his nose and the lashes that were way too long for any boy and she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

 

It was soft and sweet and she caught his smile on her lips, beckoning her own. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him, supporting all of her weight as he took control of the kiss sending a jolt of yearning all the way down to her toes.

 

“Is that what you wanted to try?,” he asked her when they broke apart.

 

“Yes,” she whispered, hardly able to speak.

 

He smiled at her warmly and said, “Then by all means, try again.”

 

He didn’t wait for her, he just pulled her back to him and kissed her again until she was breathless with stars in her eyes and then he kissed her again for good measure.

 

When they finally met everyone down on the beach, they parted ways, he towards Jon to help make the bonfire and she towards Sansa who sat on the big flannel blanket they always used for picnics.

 

She plopped down next to her and Sansa looked at her with a soft smile and she answered with one of her own. They both laid back and looked up at the stars and she wondered if everyone in the world got to feel like this at some point or another.

 

“Let’s promise to always remember this,” Sansa said.

 

“Promise.”


	4. You Really Got a Hold on Me

 

The sun shone brightly as the Tyrell’s boat _Without Thorns_ cut across the lake.

 

Willas had picked her up a half hour before, looking rested and sorry in his Vineyard Vines swim trunks and light blue button down shirt. He’d texted her that morning to dress for swimming, so she wore a navy blue strapless one piece with a pair of high waisted white shorts, her cat eye sunglasses perched on her nose.

 

It was a beautiful day, eighty degrees and perfect, and Sansa had woken early when Ella had left her bed to go for her tennis game with Jon, so she had had plenty of time to get rid of the headache she’d had and was now feeling happy and bright.

 

She sat next to Willas as he drove his father’s boat with all the confidence that teenagers around here did, but something else too. He’d grip the steering wheel and look over at her after they went over a bump in a way that almost reminded her of Robb, or Jon. In other words, he took having her as his passenger seriously, and she found that it didn’t make her feel like a little girl the way it did when Robb would slow down and say _All good?_ the way her father might, but instead it made her feel precious and important. She was surefooted on the boat, always had been, so she always answered his look of his concern with a smile that demanded his own.

 

She looked over at him now, the wind was rustling his light brown curls and he had a deep tan that could only come from weeks spent outside. He was gorgeous, in his own way, and she forced herself to stop comparing his sunny, All-American features to Jon’s more broody, Paris Fashion Week ones.

 

 _Why am I even thinking about Jon?_ Sansa wondered to herself. Maybe it was because they’d made up last night, or because he’d only smiled at her, with only the slightest hesitation, when he saw her that morning and told her to have fun, or because he and Ella had decided to take Arya and Bran to _Valyrian’s Dread_ to jump off the high rocks and he’d looked so thoughtful when he promised her mom that he’d take good care of her babies.

 

She banished him from her thoughts, even though she knew from experience that he always fought his way back in, and she leaned closer to Willas’ ear, “Where are we going?”

 

“You’ll see,” he said with a grin, “We’re almost there, beauty.”

 

Her heart flip-flopped every time he called her that. He placed his warm hand on her leg and gave her a gentle squeeze and she hoped he’d keep doing that because it was one sure-fire way to get her to stop thinking about Jon. Present thoughts notwithstanding.

 

She placed her hand on top of his tentatively. She still wasn’t exactly sure what the rules were and she didn’t want to make a fool out of herself, but Willas turned his palm over and threaded his fingers through hers and she knew she didn’t really have to worry about it, because Willas would never make her feel like a fool if he could help it.

 

They rode in silence the rest of the way until he took her into a shady cove where he docked the boat. Willas hopped off to tie off and extended his hand to her, and even though she’d been hopping off boats since she was old enough to walk, she placed her hand in his and let her pull her up. He held her there for a moment, his other hand moving to the back of her waist and she felt his thumb tracing against her spine and sent shivers through her despite the heat of the day. He looked at her like he was afraid she might run away and leaned forward, until it felt right and safe for her to do the same. He kissed her softly, and pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers.

 

“I didn’t want to leave you last night,” he said to her in apology.

 

She had to fight to think why he’d be apologising to her and then she remembered how sad she had been when he left. But that was before Ella and Robb had come back happy and together, before they’d all danced like the world was ending, before they’d all gone down to the beach and spent hours talking and laughing because none of them were ready for the night to be a mere memory.

 

“That’s okay,” she assured him, “I had my friends.”

 

“Your pack of wolves you mean?,” he asked her with a grin.

 

“Awoo,” she howled softly and he chuckled.

 

He lead her around the path to a rundown looking cape-cod style home and she was hit by the smell of crab and lobster cooking.

 

“I hope you don’t mind,” he said to her, “I would take you someplace nicer but -“

 

“Sansa baby,” Old Nan said, opening her arms and Sansa rushed into them. They hadn’t yet made it to Nan’s this summer and she’d have to apologise to the rest of them for going on her own, but she couldn’t really be that sorry when she fell into Nan’s warm embrace.

 

“There _is_ no place nicer,” Sansa said as she lead them to her table.

 

Willas grinned sheepishly as they sat down, “I feel like such a fool. Of _course_ you’ve been here.”

 

“You’re not a fool, and as long as you let me get the lemon pie for dessert you have made me a very happy girl,” she said.

 

“If that is all it takes to make you happy, then I’ll bring one to your house every day,” he told her and she blushed.

 

It was no small thing to have a boy like him, the president of his class, captain of his waterpolo team and the body to prove it, who’d already committed to Yale, tell her that he’d devote each day to her happiness.

 

“Oh baby don’t tease me,” she said flirtatiously and he threw his head back and chuckled. She liked the sound of his laugh, it was carefree, as though he might laugh just for the pleasure of it, and she liked pulling it from him.

 

They ate crab cakes and drank Nan’s special hibiscus iced teas and when the lemon pie came he let her have the last bite. They walked back to his boat hand in hand and his hands were strong and sure on her waist when he picked her up and brought her into the boat. When he kissed her he tasted like lemons and he smelled like sunshine and he didn’t laugh when she told him so.

 

They took a ride and he brought her to another cove where they anchored the boat and jumped off, swimming to the shore. They didn’t bring anything with them, and they didn’t need to, not when the sand was so soft and the water was so warm.

 

He kissed her again and again but he never pushed for more, and it was her who pulled him back when he pulled away to give her time to breathe. His hands never strayed where they shouldn’t, resting on her waist or her arms, but most often on her face, stroking the curve of her cheekbone with his thumb or threading his fingers into her hair.

 

When her nose had turned pink and the sky had turned golden, she drove them back, and he sat back and grinned, holding onto her tight when she took them over bumps, kissing her cheek when she giggled at the joy of it.

 

This time, when he asked her if he could walk her upstairs, she said yes, and it seemed only natural that her mother would invite him to dinner and that he would tell her that he’d be delighted to join them, and if he had planned it that way he certainly wouldn’t tell her so.

 

***

 

Robb threw on a light blue t shirt over his navy blue khaki shorts and padded down the hall towards the stairs so he could go join his family outside. He stopped outside of Ella’s room when he saw a flash of movement.

 

He knocked on the door and he heard her sweet voice beckon him inside. She turned and the smile on her face when she realised it was him stopped his heart. Her hair was still damp from the shower and she wore a green sundress that made her eyes look like bright shining orbs.

 

“Hi,” she said almost shyly. Grey Wind was resting on her bed, his head on her pillow like the true ham he was.

 

“Hi,” he said back and sighed, plopping himself on her bed next to him and scratching in the spot behind his ear that he liked.

 

“Now what could _possibly_ cause a pout like that?,” she asked as she came over and got on the bed on her knees, sitting back and placing her hands on his knees.

 

“I’m not pouting,” he said, even though he was. She looked at him conveying this point perfectly, and he sighed again and said, “Willas is staying for dinner.”

 

“You love Willas,” she pointed out. She had a really annoying habit of always being right.

 

“I do not _love_ him, and anyway what the hell is happening with them anyway?A few days ago it was little more than a crush…,” he said.

 

“A few days ago _we_ were little more than a crush,” she pointed out, “What the hell is happening with _us_?”

 

“That’s different,” he argued, because it was. Willas was fleeting, a temporary fancy, something that would get Sansa through the unsteady time of realising who she was and what she really wanted.

 

“How?,” she asked, and when he looked at her he realised that she was really asking, not arguing.

 

He was a little confused, they hadn’t had the talk, but that was because he hadn’t thought they needed to. Wasn’t it obvious that he was hers? She was looking at him like it _wasn’t_ obvious though so he opened his legs and pulled her to him so that she was lying on top of him.

 

“Because Sansa doesn’t feel the way about Willas that I feel about you. She hasn’t wanted him her whole life. She hasn’t looked for him in every crowded room, hasn’t felt the honor of having him rely upon her, hasn’t had her entire day turned around because of one of his smiles. I’m not saying all loves have to start in childhood, I just know that hers did. And it wasn’t with Willas,” he said, rubbing the shell of her ear between his fingers.

 

“And that’s the way you feel about me?,” she asked, as though it weren’t obvious.

 

“And that’s the way I feel about you,” he confirmed.

 

“Give her time,” she said. “If she feels for _him_ the way I feel for you, and I know that she does…well you can’t hide a thing like that forever.”

 

He realised then that neither had said his name, and they didn’t need to. They both knew it was Jon, even if Sansa didn’t. Even if Jon didn’t. One of these days they were going to have to stop wasting their time with other people, but they were so stubborn, so alike in that way, that he was afraid they could very easily continue to miss each other in a never ending parade of girls and boys who weren’t the _one_.

 

He looked at Ella. He’d dated a couple of girls when he was her age, not seriously, and he couldn’t imagine wasting his time doing so now. Her lips against his was the most indescribable feeling, and was only rivalled by the feel of her in his arms, trusting and warm as she was now.

 

He kissed her, pulling her higher up. Her arms came around him and she took his bottom lip between hers, making him see stars. He knew the door was open and he knew they weren’t going to go any further than this, and that was alright, more than alright, but he wrapped his arm around her waist and turned them so that her head lay against the pillows. She looked up at him smiling and he leaned down and kissed her neck, he made his way up to her ear when she started giggling.

 

“I’m trying to kiss you here,” he said and looked up at her in mock-annoyance when he saw what she was really laughing about. Grey Wind had wanted to show her his devotion as well and had started licking her.

 

She grabbed Grey Wind by his head and kissed his snout and his forehead, hugging him against her and looking up at Robb with a sheepish grin. He smiled back and pulled her up.

 

“Alright, little one. Let’s get you some dinner before Grey Wind steals my girlfriend,” he said.

 

“Girlfriend is it?,” she asked.

 

“Isn’t it?,” he returned.

 

She looked at him and smiled, then pecked him on the lips. “Whatever you say boyfriend. Last one outside is a rotten egg!,” she cried as she sprung out of bed, Grey Wind fast on her heels.

 

He followed them, wondering how he’d gotten so lucky that all things he loved loved each other too.

 

***

 

Jon stood outside the doorway terrified by what he was going to do. There was a girl inside and she had no idea what he was about to say and after that it was all going to be different, there’d be no turning back, not after this.

 

He had tried to deny it, tried to push it from his mind. He had fought against it, tooth and nail, but it had triumphed. As Ella always said, you can’t hide a thing like that forever.

 

He had never felt the way that he’d felt at dinner tonight. Sitting across from Sansa had been a unique kind of torture. He’d watched the way Willas had rested his arm across the back of her chair while they ate dessert, the way she’d giggled behind her hand as he mentioned some private joke. It had cut through him like a knife.

 

He’d decided last night that he wouldn’t interfere. He owed her this, this time to be young, to be free, to discover what it was to be wanted without all the strings that came from being with someone you’d known since birth. There would be no middle ground when they got together, he knew. Their love was not the kind that would be doled out in half-measures. He would be all in from the first kiss, as if he wasn’t already now.

 

He had often wondered if he could simply date her. Just take her out like any boy with any beautiful girl, but then he’d seen Robb and Ella. As far as he knew they’d only gotten together a few nights ago, but watching them at dinner it was like they’d been together all their lives. He supposed in a way they had. He had been heartened by the way they were together, but he knew it wouldn’t be the same. Ella and Robb were both steadfast, loyal to a fault, but they also walked through life with their easy confidence. They’d never waver because their souls had found their companion. They were made to be with each other, and Jon, a skeptic, would ardently deny destiny if it were not for them.

 

He and Sansa would not be that way. He knew that she wanted him now, even if she didn’t. It was why he could make her angry like no one else, it was why she hated Ygritte, it was even why she’d gravitated towards Willas - who was Jon’s antonym in every way - a boy that would never make her guess, never make her wonder.

 

But whereas Ella and Robb would grow together like tangled roots someday, Sansa would outgrow him. She shone show brightly, brighter than anything in his world, and the life he could give her would be too small to satisfy it.

 

Even still, he had to try. He would rather be an old man talking about the girl he’d lost than the one he’d never had. He would rather bask in her glow for a little while so that the memory might keep him warm in the years that followed than maintain his distance.

 

It wouldn’t be easy, he knew that. She was stubborn, so stubborn, just like him. She would fight him every step of the way, needling him in the way that only she could, but even still, he had to try.

 

He took a deep breath, thinking of the look Ella had given him after dinner. Robb had decided to take her for a late night cruise, just the two of them, and he’d caught her as she’d come running downstairs pulling Robb’s sweatshirt over her tiny frame.

 

_“Where you going, little one?,” he asked her, catching her as she nearly tripped over her own two feet._

 

_“With Robb,” she said with a bright smile, as though that were the only factor that mattered, but she added, “For a boat ride.”_

 

_“Tell him to drive safe,” he said with a smile._

 

_“He always does,” she said with confidence._

 

_“When you’re onboard,” he confided and her answering smile made it okay that he’d given away one of Robb’s secrets - they were all safe with her._

 

_“Do you want to come with us?,” she asked, and to her credit he knew the invitation as genuine._

 

_“Uh…no there’s something I have to do,” he said._

 

_She’d been going a mile a minute, but she stopped and looked at him, really looked at him._

 

_“Whatever you do, it’s the right thing,” she said, “You know that.”_

 

_He could have cried. There was nothing like being loved by Ella, she only saw the best in you and it made you so afraid to disappoint her that it demanded your best in return. Her view of him was so skewed and he hoped it would never change, he didn’t know what he’d do if she ever stopped looking at him like that._

 

_“If only I were actually the guy you thought I was,” he said with a self-deprecating grin._

 

_“You are,” she said, “And you’re not alone…I can come with you. I can help make her understand.”_

 

_There wasn’t a part of him that didn’t believe her. She’d put herself through anything, no matter how awkward, if it meant he didn’t have to go through it alone._

 

_He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead, “I’ve got to fight my own battles, little one.”_

 

_She looked up at him with concern and then they both heard Robb outside._

 

_“Ella! Oh Ella Baratheeeeon, where are you sweet girl?,” he called and Jon envied him. He could call like a fool into the night knowing the girl he loved would come when he did._

 

_“Go,” Jon told her, because he’d seen the way her head had whipped in Robb’s direction, the smile she’d swallowed before turning back to him with her look of concern, “Go.”_

 

_With one last look she was gone, bounding down the stairs calling Robb’s name. He went to the window and saw her catch up to where he was waiting and jump into his arms - no fear, no hesitation - free and sure._

 

He regretted telling her not to come. He knew that she couldn’t, not really, but even still he wished she was here right now. She’d know just what to say, she always did. But she wasn’t, he’d have to fight this battle on his own.

 

He knocked on the door, and a beautiful girl with fire in her hair answered it with a smile when she saw that it was him.

 

“Jon? What’s going on?,” she asked when she saw the look in his eyes.

 

“We’ve got to talk, Ygritte,” he said solemnly.

 

***

 

She wasn’t entirely sure where they were going but she knew it didn’t matter. She sat on the bench next to Robb as he drove them through the night. Her feet were tucked up underneath her and her head was tucked into the crook of his neck, and she felt a little bit like she was flying, or at the very least weightless.

 

He slowed the boat as he turned into a narrow offshoot of the lake. There were willow trees on either side and they hung low kissing the water. She got off the seat and looked up, reaching upwards and feeling the leaves in her fingers.

 

Robb turned off the engine, the narrowness made this part of the lake almost like a river, and he let the current take them. She turned to him and laughed, and he laughed too, because it was almost unbelievable that things like this existed, or that they did. It was like being a different world and Robb was here with her, it was perfect.

 

As they made their way out he turned the engine back on and drove slowly, as though he were afraid that she’d demand to go back now that she’d seen what he’d wanted her to see. He focused so intently, bringing to mind what Jon had told her. She’d never seen him be anything but careful, but then she wouldn’t, would she?

 

She walked over to him and turned his face and planted a kiss on his surprised lips. She felt feverish, it had to be dangerous to be cared for so thoroughly, it couldn’t be good for you, to be spoiled this way when you were so young. He grabbed her to him and pulled her into his lap, nipping at her bottom lip and she wanted to find a way to crawl into his heart so that she’d never have to leave it.

 

She heard Robb turn the engine off. They were in the middle of the lake amidst the still water, it could be minutes even hours before they had to turn the boat on to avoid hitting anything, and so she kissed him again. He moaned against her, one arm around her back holding her steady, his fingers clutching her ribs, while the other hand threaded through her hair, gripping it gently.

 

“Robb, Robb, Robb,” she said as he pulled her head back, exposing her throat to him. He pressed open mouth, hot kisses to her neck and the way they mixed with the cool night air made her shiver against him, crying out.

 

“Oh my love,” he murmured against her, his lips never leaving her as he kissed his way back up to her mouth. He devoured her and she craved consumption if it felt like this.

 

She kissed him again and again because it felt good and he’d found a beautiful spot just for her and he’d called her his love as though he couldn’t not. When they broke apart they were both breathing heavily, regaining strength. He was staring at her and she was drunk on the way that madness mixed with moonlight in his eyes.

 

He pulled her to him again and kissed her softly, reverently, as though sealing the moment between them.

 

She turned around in his lap and turned on the boat. She loved driving, but driving at night still frightened her a bit, and she figured there was no better time to learn than with him. He opened his legs so that she sat in between them and he kept one hand on her waist, the other covering hers on the gage and moved it slowly down, increasing the speed before bringing her hand to the steering wheel.

 

He rested his hand back on her leg, close to the steering wheel and she felt safe knowing that he could grab it any time. She drove them back and leaned against him, his warm cheek pressed against her cold one.

 

When she neared the dock he hopped off the boat holding the line and gave her an emphatic round of applause. He tied them off and she hopped out and she was going to walk up the stairs but he pulled her back and pressed more sweet kisses to her lips. It took them a long time to get up to the house and Robb kissed her once more, pulling her to him as they neared the top step.

 

“Ahem,” Ned said and she shot away from Robb so quickly that she stumbled backward. She would have fallen if not for Robb’s steady hands and Ned raised his eyebrows at her as Robb straightened her up.

 

“Evening Mr. Stark,” she said formally.

 

“Mr. Stark?,” he asked with a chuckle, “Ella dear did you hit your head?”

 

Robb was laughing too and she pinched him making him squeal, “Sorry Ned for um…just sorry.”

 

“I bet your mother would have some opinions about you two being together while you’re under the same roof, wouldn’t she?,” he asked her with a grimace.

 

She felt a pit in her stomach and nodded, “Yes…I assume she would.”

 

He looked at her and nodded, “Alright dear, well in that case…let’s not tell her.”

 

With that he winked at her and walked back into the house, leaving the pair of them dumbfounded.

 

“Did he just -?,” she started.

 

“Let’s not ask questions,” Robb said and pulled her back and by now she realised that the only thing to do when he was so close to her was to kiss him, so she did.

 

“Goodnight,” she said, kissing him again.

 

“Goodnight,” he said against her lips, kissing her again for emphasis.

 

She pushed him away and grinned, running inside and up the stairs before he could make her change her mind. She walked into her room and closed the door, resting her back against it and closed her eyes, grinning like an idiot.

 

“Ella?,” a sad voice asked her and her eyes shot open.

 

Her best friend sat on her bed with mascara running down her cheeks. She rushed to her side, “Oh Dovey, what’s wrong?”

 

_Was I wrong? Was it not Jon all this time?_

 

Sansa wiped at her cheeks, “It’s, it’s nothing. I’m just being stupid.”

 

“You’re many things, but stupid isn’t one of them,” Ella said, grabbing a face wipe and rubbing her cheeks clean. It was no use, fresh tears kept pooling in her eyes to replace the shed ones. “Now tell me what happened.”

 

“Willas asked me to be his girlfriend,” she said with a small smile, “And I told him yes.”

 

“Well that’s a good thing…,” she said, because it felt like the thing to say, and she looked into Sansa’s blue eyes, “Isn’t it?”

 

“It’s a good thing,” she said, nodding, but then a sob wracked her body and Ella wrapped her arms around her quickly, rubbing her back. She felt Sansa’s arms come around her as the sobs came again and again, her cheek resting on her shoulder.

 

“Oh Dove,” Ella cooed at her, “My sweet, sweet Dove.”

 

She wanted to tell her that it couldn’t be as bad as all that, but she didn’t because she hadn’t been wrong. It _was_ Jon. It had always been Jon, and against all odds, against everything reason told her should be the case, Sansa hadn’t realised she belonged to him until Willas asked her to be his.


	5. A Teenager in Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a tough one... stick with me!

 

Sansa woke early. In truth she had never really fallen asleep. She looked beside her and found Ella curled up on her side, her long lashes fluttering from a dream. She tiptoed out of bed, though she needn't have - Ella always slept like the dead - and pulled on running shorts and a tank top, stepping into her sneakers and throwing her hair up in a ponytail. 

 

The morning was bright and cool when she got outside, the way mornings by the lake always were, and she turned up the volume on her _Angry Running_ playlist and took off into a jog. 

 

The sound of The Kills started blaring into her ears and she increased her speed. She knew the path well, she'd been running it for years already, and her legs operated on muscle memory alone. She loved creating her own wind, and the cool air on her face woke her up more than any amount of coffee ever could. 

 

She and Ella had been up hours, her best friend sitting with her and stroking her hair until she'd finally calmed down enough to watch an old movie. Ella had fallen asleep before Audrey Hepburn had even proposed her plan to Peter O'Toole but Sansa had tossed and turned for most of the evening, an unsettled feeling in her stomach that made it impossible to sleep.

 

 _I'm in love with Jon Snow I'm in love with Jon Snow I'm in love with Jon Snow_ , every touch of her foot on the ground said, mocking her.

 

She felt like such a fool. How had she not seen it? Ella hadn't even asked her why she was upset because she _knew_. Ella always knew and Sansa felt irrationally angry with her for not telling her years ago. 

 

 _What would you have done with that information if she had?_ she wondered. Jon would never love her back, not in that way. He thought of her like he thought of Ella, like a little sister that he had to protect, not a girl that he wanted to... it was impossible. She should be grateful to Ella, for letting her exist in oblivion for a little while longer. 

 

Images of Willas flashed before her mind. He had been so perfect at dinner, polite to her parents, friendly with her siblings, and he had been so sweet when he'd asked her to be his. 

 

_"I know we've only just started to date...but...I want to give us a real chance..."_

 

He never had a chance, she realized in that moment. He in all his polo-bodied, Yale bound, blue eyed perfection hadn't stood a chance against Jon Snow's broody charm and vicious protectiveness. She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d gotten the word _yes_ out, but she knew that she had because she was in his arms in the next moment. She had never realised how reverently he kissed her, but she saw it now the way a merciless god observes the devout. _Can’t you see that it’s not real?_ she wondered.

 

It wasn’t that she didn’t care for Willas. She did. It surprised her just how much she cared about him after only a week. She told herself that it had been more than a week. They’d known each other all their lives and they’d been in the same study hall this past year. She’d sat with him and Willem Bracken trying to concentrate on her tattered copy of Anna Karenina while they made it their mission to distract her from it. There had been a party the first night of summer too, when she’d gotten separated from Ella and Theon (Jon and Robb had gone on a beer run with Dickon Tarly), and he’d asked her to dance. He’d held her so close and she couldn’t even look at him for fear of blushing. Only weeks later it seemed she held his heart in her hands.

 

She rounded the bend, which told her she was a half mile from home. She had already been through her playlist once it seemed. She advanced into a sprint for the last half mile, craving the strain in her muscles, hoping the whistle of the trees would drown out her thoughts.

 

She forced herself to jog up the stairs, even though her limbs felt like jelly, and only stopped when she reached the terrace, doubling over and stretching her arms to the ground.

 

“Smasma” she heard vaguely. “Smasma? SMASMA!”

 

She shot back up and shouted, “WHAT?!” at her unsuspecting older brother.

 

He tapped his ear and she pulled her earbud out.

 

“You alright?,” he asked her, his forehead creasing in concern.

 

“Why wouldn’t I be?,” she asked with an edge in her voice, seeing Ella open the screen door. She looked accusingly at her best friend who shook her head, wide eyed, and Robb looked between them obviously trying to make sense of the anger radiating off of her.

 

Robb shook his head, “No reason - you just… you were gone for a while…”

 

“It’s a long trail,” she said, her hands on her hips, sucking in air greedily.

 

“Right,” he nodded too quickly. He always reacted like this when she was upset. He’d agree with her, whatever she said, just to make her feel better. It was annoying. And sweet. But mostly annoying. “Anyway…we were all thinking of going to Nan’s for lunch today, do you want to come?”

 

 _All_ , she thought. _All including Jon Snow the apparent love of my life and dictator of my personal hell._

 

“I can’t…,” she said, shaking her head, “I promised Willas I’d hang out with him and Loras.”

 

She hadn’t, but considering that Willas had asked her to be his girlfriend the night before and Loras was one of her closest friends from choir she didn’t think they’d mind her tagging along with whatever they had planned for the day.

 

“They could come?,” Robb offered kindly.

 

“I said no, okay?,” she snapped. She fought tears when she saw Robb’s hurt expression. They never fought, not even when she’d stolen his favorite t shirt and shrunk it by accident. He’d merely given it to Rickon saying _The tradition lives on_.

 

“Okay, Dovey,” Ella said in her chipper voice, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around Robb’s waist. “We’ll miss you though.”

 

 _Doubtful_ , she thought when she saw Robb wrap his arm around Ella’s shoulders, kissing her head. _I doubt any of you will miss me at all, not when Roslin and Ygritte can join you for a super-duper double date._

 

She moved to brush past them as Theon came out making a kissy face at her.

 

“Leave me alone!,” she nearly shouted at him and he jumped back, holding his hands up like she was a police officer and stepping out of her way.

 

She sprinted through the house, ignoring her mother and father who stood at the stove and sink, ignoring Arya who was jogging down the stairs, her backpack for camp slung over her shoulders.

 

“Sansa!,” a surprised voice said as she rounded the corner. She’d nearly collided into the bare, perfect, sweaty chest of Jon Snow.

 

“Jon,” she said hollowly. _Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry._ She focused on a bead of sweat trickling down his abdomen instead. She should be grossed out, as he probably was by her in the moment, but she couldn’t be.

 

“I uh…you… we must have just missed each other out there,” he said with his lopsided grin that never failed to turn her insides to mush.

 

_How didn’t I know? How could I have mistaken this for anything short of love?_

 

“And yet, here we are,” she said in a clipped tone.

 

He nodded, like he’d forgotten everything he wanted to say to her and she was afraid if she stood there in the hallway for a minute longer she start blubbering and tell him everything. The way she always would. He would just look at her with those dark grey eyes, like everything she said was _important_ and everything she felt was _valid_ and like she could bring it all to him and he’d never judge her, never blame her. _How can I bring you this?_

 

“I’ve got to shower,” she said, moving past him.

 

“Yeah, yeah me too. But hey…wanna split the lemon pie at Nan’s today? I’ve been craving it for we-,” he started but she cut him off.

 

“I’m not coming to Nan’s,” she said and she was focusing so hard on not crumbling that she didn’t notice the way his face dropped, “Maybe Ygritte will split it with you.”

 

He opened his mouth to say something to her but whatever it was was drowned out by the slamming of her bedroom door. It was only after it shut that she allowed herself to crumble to the floor as the tears fell hot and wet on her cheeks.

 

***

 

Robb had hoped he’d feel better by the time they arrived at Nan’s. Even though it was great to have her fussing over all of them again - chiding Theon as he spun her around, taking Ella’s face between her hands and telling her how the world had never known such beauty, pulling him aside and telling him how happy she was that he’d finally gotten the balls to make Ella his (her words) - it didn’t feel right without Sansa there.

 

They sat at their usual table overlooking the small beach below and shared fried clams and a pitcher of her hibiscus iced tea. They ate crab cakes and fish and chips and would have happily stopped their had Nan not sent over a lemon pie and chocolate covered cookies for Ella.

 

“I am never eating again,” Ella moaned, “One of you has to carry me to the boat, and if you can’t - which I’d understand - then you have to roll me there.”

 

“If we roll together we’ll get more momentum,” Jon pointed out, “But I don’t want to think about rolling right now.”

 

He grinned in sympathy but his heart wasn’t really in it. All he’d been thinking about all day was the way Sansa had been acting. That and Ella in her navy blue bikini, but that was kind of involuntary.

 

He wasn’t sure what was going on with his sister, but he knew better than to push when it came to her. With Arya you could force it out of her, if you made her angry enough to lash out she’d tell you just about anything. But they were as different as the sun and the moon and the harder you pushed with Sansa the further she retreated into herself.

 

They got down to the boat and he pulled them away from the dock. He drove at a leisurely pace, none of them had anywhere to be and Theon stood next to him while Ella tanned up in the front and Jon read next to her.

 

“Think he’s doing okay?,” Theon asked him and Robb turned to him with a look of confusion. “Roslin texted me this morning… guess things got pretty ugly last night?”

 

“Huh?,” Robb asked dumbly. The house had been dark when he had gone inside. His father and Ella had been the last ones up other than him it seemed.

 

“With Ygritte?,” Theon asked, “He didn’t tell you?”

 

Robb looked over at Jon who was now reading out loud to Ella. He had been a bit quiet at lunch, but after seventeen years of friendship, Robb had learned not to question that. Jon had moods, everyone knew that. It was a fool who tried to pull him from them.

 

 _Just like Sansa_ , he sighed.

 

“What happened? Did she break up with him?,” Robb asked. He’d seen them only a couple of days ago and Ygritte seemed besotted with him, in that Ygritte way of hers that made it seem like she might murder him half the time.

 

“No dude, he went over last night and dumped her. She went crazy, threw things at him. She - seriously he didn’t tell you?,” Theon asked dumbfounded. Robb shook his head no and Theon sighed. “Yeah well…anyway… maybe we should take him out tonight. You know…just us.”

 

Robb looked back at the bow. Jon was laughing at something Ella said. It was the first time he’d laughed all day - Ella could always pierce through whatever was going on with him. _I think we’d do better with her by our side_ , Robb thought, but he was afraid that his desire to be around her all the time was clouding his judgment so he merely nodded.

 

“Good idea,” he said, “Let’s call Sam and Grenn. We’ll make a night of it.”

 

“Awooooo,” Theon called out, throwing his head back and howling.

 

“Awooooooooooo,” Ella and Jon chorused from up front.

 

He increased the speed, heading towards Valyrian’s Dread. A bit of adrenaline always did wonders for Jon, and Robb felt the need for a bit himself.

 

There were already a group of boats amassed there - people their age liked to come here to day drink because no adults bothered with it - and he pulled in between a sailboat and a fishing boat, letting the anchor down.

 

“Is that Sansa?,” Theon asked and they all looked up to the tallest peak. _It can’t be_ , he thought. Sansa hated heights. Nothing they ever said could make her change her mind either, she always swam near the boat or tanned, not embarrassed in the least by their good-natured teasing.

 

The girl held hands with a boy though and it was unmistakably her and Willas, especially when they stepped off and the sound of her scream reached them.

 

“YAY DOVEY!!!,” Ella said, jumping up and down on the bow of the boat. She had made that jump for the first time when she was ten, but you’d think Sansa had been the first to ever attempt it from the way she was hooting and hollering for her best friend.

 

Sansa grinned at her, but instead of swimming towards their boat like Willas seemed to suggest she moved away from them, heading towards the yacht where a guy and a girl were tanning themselves on lounge chairs on the deck.

 

“El,” Jon said, reaching for her. They’d all seen the way her shoulders had sagged at Sansa’s rejection. He caught air though as she executed her perfect dive into the water.

 

He pulled his shirt off and jumped in as well, swimming after her. _What the fuck is going on with today?_ he wondered. Hadn’t it been only a couple nights before when he and his friends had stayed up into the early hours, laughing and drinking and thanking whatever god there was that he had brought them all together?

 

She was a strong swimmer but he finally caught up to her as she was climbing out.

 

“Ella,” he started as he hoisted himself, offering her his hand and pulling her up the rest of the way.

 

“Think I can do a flip? Jon thinks I can’t but I think he’s just afraid that if I do then he will have to too,” she said with a grin.

 

“Absolutely do not do a flip,” he said, his mission momentarily deserted out of the sheer fear that she would attempt it.

 

She rolled her eyes at him and started climbing up. He followed her, afraid even after years of making this very same climb that sure-footed Ella would slip.

 

When they made their way to the top he grabbed her arm gently and said, “What’s going on with you and Sansa?”

 

Ella was a terrible liar. She rarely attempted it because it was so out of her skill set, and he knew a rare one was coming when she averted his gaze.

 

“Nothing, I don’t think she heard me,” she said.

 

“Ella,” he said gently. “You can tell me.”

 

“There’s nothing to tell! We’re fine. We had a sleepover last night. Everything’s _fine_ ,” she said again, turning away from him. She turned back, looking up at him and shading her eyes with her hand, “Do you want to jump first?”

 

“We could jump together,” he said, thinking of Willas and Sansa only moments earlier.

 

“Aww Robb Stark are you scared?,” she asked in a lilting voice, the pads of her fingers reaching out and touching his chest.

 

 _I’m terrified_ , he wanted to tell her. _I’m scared for Sansa and for Jon. I’m scared that we are all going to drift apart. I’m scared that I’ve only been dating you for a week and I am so in love with you that I can’t see straight. I’m scared that everything is changing and there is nothing I can do to stop it, but most of all I’m scared that a day could come when you aren’t looking at me just like that._

 

He knew he could tell her all of that. She wouldn’t flinch - that was the thing about Ella. You could bring her your darkest secrets, your deepest worries, and she would take them as her own, sharing them with you until they didn’t seem so bad - until nothing seemed so bad as long as she was by your side.

 

He wondered if she didn’t share some of them already.

 

She was looking at him though with a small smile resting on her bow lips and her golden hair had turned the shade of wet sand as it hung irresistibly against her face and her fingers were still resting against his chest, tracing the tuft of chest hair that seemed to fascinate her so.

 

“Oh I’m terrified,” he said, and pulled her closer to him, eliciting a giggle. Their bodies were cold against one another, and her lips tasted like lake water when he kissed her. It wasn’t so much a lie, he reasoned, it just wasn’t the whole truth, and he thought that maybe it was better for some things to be left unsaid, especially when the sun was so warm and the water so inviting and his girlfriend was kissing him back so sweetly amidst the hoots and hollers of their friends.

 

“I’ll protect you,” she vowed as they broke apart, and her small hand traced down his arm until it could settle in his. 

 

He grinned at her and they stepped forward. His stomach did a little flip flop like always as he felt nothing but air beneath him, and they plunged deep into the water, Ella’s hand still in his. When they came to the surface Ella was laughing and when she moved into his arms to kiss him his stomach flip flopped and it felt like he was falling all over again.

 

***

 

He was grateful that Sam had offered to drive tonight. None of them were in any shape to drive the boat by the time they left Grenn’s pregame, and Theon had attempted to fight a tree on the way to the car. In his defence though, the tree had refused to move out of his way.

 

They showed up to Willem Bracken’s a little after ten. The party was in full swing by then and seemed to erupt when they walked in.

 

“To my _brotttthers_ ,” Theon cried as he held his beer up. They cheers’d him. He always got a little sappy when they drank, but as they stood with Robb he knew it was the truth.

 

“Awoooo,” he and Robb howled. It couldn’t be just his imagination that the rest of the party joined in and he turned and raised his drink to them.

 

He wasn’t exactly sure how the evening had gotten to this point. It had started off reasonably enough with a family dinner, minus Sansa, but Theon had that glimmer in his eye as they walked to Grenn’s and it had all gone down hill from there.

 

“Dude, incoming,” Theon slurred in his ear and Jon saw a flash of red hair. _Sansa_? he wondered, turning forlornly in her direction. The eyes that met him were blue, but the wrong blue and glazed over. _Ygritte_.

 

He wondered if he should go apologise to her. She had been so upset last night and angry, so angry. She had said horrible things, thrown things at him. He hadn’t tried to fight back, he deserved it all. He was considering all of this when she grabbed the guy she was standing with, some older guy who Jon didn’t recognise, and pulled him over to where people were dancing.

 

“That chick’s cold blooded,” Theon said and Jon tried to care. He tried to feel anything except shame, but he couldn’t.

 

“Forget her,” Robb said, throwing his arm around him. He was the most sober of all of them, and there was something about him slightly less jovial than his usual self, but he was a good friend - the best friend, really - so he’d been playing his part and wouldn’t let the team suffer now. “I saw Val looking at you - why don’t you go ask her to play beer pong?”

 

“Whoarewegonnaplayagainst?,” Jon asked, and chose not to worry about the fact that he was using Robb to support himself.

 

“Robb and I will kick your ass, Snow,” the sultry voice of Margery Tyrell cut in.

 

She was wearing a white playsuit with a low neck and a sash belt, her luscious brown curls hanging halfway down her back. _Sansa must be with her_ , was all he could think, thinking of how Cat had explained that Sansa had texted her earlier letting her know she wouldn’t be home for dinner.

 

“Is that so?,” he asked her, his eyes darting around looking for the beautiful girl with fire in her hair and ice in her eyes.

 

“Well uh…,” Robb said.

 

“Dude, it’s not _cheating_ to play beer pong,” Theon offered and Jon didn’t like it. He couldn’t disagree with it but he didn’t like it, didn’t like the way it sounded or what it implied. In fact he didn’t like that Ella wasn’t there with them right now challenging Jon herself.

 

“Shut up, man,” Robb scolded then turned to Margery bashfully, “Uh sure… though I’ve got to admit I saw you play at the Tarly’s and…well…”

 

“Robb Stark you are just pure evil!,” she said walking over to them and nudging his chest, “Keep it up and you’ll have to be punished.”

 

Robb blushed all the way down to his toes Jon was pretty sure and Theon saved him by saying, “I can be pretty evil too, you know.”

 

“I’ll just bet,” Margery said and then called for Val.

 

The pretty blonde came over. She was wearing a short red dress showing off just about everything and Jon wasn’t so fool or so drunk not to notice.

 

“Think we can take ‘em?,” Jon asked her with a grin.

 

“They don’t stand a chance,” she said flirtatiously and offered him her hand. He took it and Robb and Margery followed, Theon bringing up the rear holding a conversation all on his own.

 

When they’d set up the game, Robb took the first shot, sinking it easily into the front cup. Val picked up the cup removing the ball and flicking the beer off of it before draining the cup. Margery threw next and Jon caught the ball before it could hit Val in the face.

 

She smiled at him gratefully, though there was something else lurking there behind her eyes and he said simply, “Ladies first.”

 

She threw and missed narrowly, as did he.

 

Robb threw it again and made it and by some accident, Margery did too and he and Val clinked cups before downing them.

 

It was a quick game, a very wide defeat, and Margery jumped into Robb’s arms when he made the game cup. Robb stumbled back, and whether it was out of drunkeness or surprise Jon couldn’t be entirely sure, but he saw Robb put her down gently. He cleared his throat and Jon thought he was looking at him but then he squinted and Jon turned around following his gaze.

 

 _I knew you’d be here_ , he thought, _with him_.

 

To say she was the girl he’d known and loved his entire life wouldn’t be entirely true in this moment, not in her short black dress and kohl lined eyes, not in the way she danced as though every movement might stop the world from ending. She looked like a daydream, every dark fantasy of her that he’d ever had. The girl with the sweet smile who loved light pink and wildflowers seemed very far away, and even as he stared at Sansa, even as he lusted over her, he missed that girl - for she was the one that had his heart.

 

“Dude, it’s not gonna solve anything,” Theon said, suddenly sober as he placed his hand on Robb’s chest.

 

Jon pulled himself from staring and saw Robb with fire in his eyes watching the way Sansa was dancing up against Willas, who looked like he couldn’t quite believe his luck. _We’re all good guys until a girl like that comes along_ , Jon thought of what Theon had said the other night.

 

“Robb, calm down,” Margery said, “They are just dancing. Come on, I’ll show you what that’s like…”

 

Robb looked at her incredulously but she only grinned flirtatiously, walking backwards, swaying her hips. _You’ve never met a man that wouldn’t follow you into the fire, he’ll be such a disappointment to you._

 

Robb stalked forward and Margery smiled in victory but he brushed right past her and walked towards Sansa and Willas, who seemed to be fused together dancing to a hip-hop song. Jon and Theon followed, though Jon wasn’t sure he really wanted to hear this.

 

“Sansa come on, it’s late, it’s time to go,” Robb said.

 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Sansa said, “I’m sleeping at Margery’s.”

 

“Margery’s my _ass_ , there is no way you are sleeping under the same roof as him,” Robb said, sounding very much like Ned .

 

“Says the guy who has a live-in girlfriend,” Sansa snapped. She looked at Theon and Jon and chuckled harshly, “What is this - the goon squad?”

 

“Sansa come on…this isn’t you,” Theon said to her, reaching for her hand. She recoiled away from him and Jon flinched just at the sight of it.

 

“What isn’t me? Hanging out with friends? Dancing? Drinking? It’s what I’ve been doing all summer,” she pointed out.

 

 _With us_ , he wanted to say, _It’s different. You’re safe with us. We’ll protect you._

 

“Sansa you have already been thrown over one shoulder this summer, do you want to make it two?,” Robb asked her.

 

“Robb - come on man…I’ll get her home safe if that’s what you want…,” Willas said, ever the peacemaker.

 

“What I want, is to talk to my sister without a fucking audience,” Robb growled. Willas through his hands up and backed away, pulling his own smirking sister with him.

 

“How _dare_ you? We were just DANCING!,” Sansa argued.

 

“If that was dancing, Sansa…,” Robb said shaking his head. “I…I don’t even know what to say to that. Come on, we’ll take you home. You can see him tomorrow.”

 

Robb placed his hand on her arm gently but she wrenched it away.

 

“I told you - I’m not _going_ home,” Sansa said, “I am staying at Margery’s. Mom and Dad already said I could and last I heard, they make the rules not you!”

 

The conversation was going nowhere. Robb was drunk and Sansa was stubborn and they were both so angry that they could spend the entire night arguing without showing any signs of fatigue.

 

“Just promise you’ll call if you need something,” Jon said finally. “Doesn’t matter how late.”

 

Her ice blue eyes landed on him and her mouth opened to say something but no words came out.

 

“Promise,” he repeated.

 

It was killing him to stand there look at her when all she wanted was to remove herself from the conversation and run back to her boyfriend. She looked like a caged animal, terrified and vicious and he could see it all so clearly. They were pushing her towards him - they were placing the nails in their own coffin.

 

“I promise,” she said finally, and she sounded like Sansa again, the girl he knew and loved.

 

It took all of his strength to nod at her and then at Willas, before turning and pushing Robb back. They found Sam and walked back to his car. They were all silent on the way back, though he heard Robb sigh every few minutes. Jon knew the torture he was going through, watching your little sister grow up was terrifying.

 

They thanked Sam and clambered into the house, climbing the stairs. They didn’t discuss it, but he knew they were all heading in the same direction, and Robb knocked on the door lightly.

 

“Come in,” they heard from the other side.

 

They pushed the door open and saw a small figure lying in between Ghost and Grey Wind.

 

“What’s wrong?,” she asked, sitting up with fear in her eyes.

 

“We shouldn’t have left you,” Theon said glumly.

 

***

 

 _“I don’t want to leave you,”_ he’d said to her hours before.

 

She had showered when they got back from Valyrian’s Dread, and came out of her bathroom in white cotton shorts and an old rugby shirt of Jon’s to find Robb sitting on her bed.

 

_“Robb!,” she chided, “What if I came out naked?”_

 

_“Was that meant as a deterrent?,” he asked her and she blushed. She hadn’t quite gotten used to the idea of him wanting her._

 

_She went over and sat on the bed next to him. He’d changed as well and was wearing navy blue shorts and a white button down, the sleeves of which were rolled to his elbows and she found herself oddly fascinated by his forearms._

 

_“You look nice,” she said, picking at an errant thread._

 

_“Theon wants us to take Jon out tonight, because he broke up with Ygritte,” Robb explained and her eyes got wide. “But you already knew that.”_

 

_“I suspected…,” she said, which was true. Jon had never actually told her what he was going to do last night but when she saw Sansa it had all clicked into place. He’d never pursue one girl while he was dating another, that wasn’t his way. He’d merely taken the first step. “Is he alright?”_

 

_She thought back to their day on the lake. He had been quiet for a lot of it, but that was just Jon, and by the time they’d left Nan’s he had been joking with her, reading passages to her from the book he was reading._

 

_“Who can tell with him?,” Robb sighed, but gave her his half-smile to let her know he was only half-serious. He looked at her with concern then and said, “The thing is…Theon was kind of thinking it should just be a guys night?”_

 

_“Are you asking me?,” she asked curiously, “What do you think I’m going to say - no don’t be a good friend?”_

 

_“I was kind of hoping you would…,” he said with a sheepish grin that melted her, “I don’t want to leave you. And besides… you’re the only one that keeps us out of trouble.”_

 

_She rolled her eyes and said, “I have never once been successful in keeping you out of trouble and you know it. And…don’t worry about me, I’m happy staying here with the kids tonight.”_

 

_“Why can’t you be needy?,” he pleaded._

 

_“Because two needy people in a relationship would be rather tiresome,” she teased and leaned in to kiss him to assure him she was kidding. “I’ll be right here,” she said, leaning against the pillows, “When you get home.”_

 

_“Then I’ll come and kiss you goodnight,” he said, hovering over her, his blue eyes shining with intensity._

 

_She placed her hand over his heart and looked up at him quizzically, “You really don’t want to leave me, do you?”_

 

_His hand came up and stroked her cheek, “Is that so wrong?”_

 

_She couldn’t speak, so she only shook her head. No, it wasn’t so wrong. It was right, so very right that the boy she loved should love her back. Impossible, and right._

 

_“Be a good friend,” she said softly, “And then come home to me.”_

 

_He looked at her, his blue eyes widening as though trying to see all of her at once. They shifted erratically from her eyes down to her lips and back up again._

 

_“Say it again,” he said. “Please.”_

 

_“Come home to me,” she said again, and there was desperation in her voice now. She knew it was crazy, she was only fifteen, but this was her home, hers and his, and it felt right that this should all happen here, in the safest place she’d ever known._

 

_“Always,” he vowed, and even though he was only seventeen she believed him because Robb Stark never lied._

 

That had been hours before, and Robb had kissed her before he left, pulling her into Ned’s study and attacking her lips with a ferocity she hadn’t yet seen from him. She had kissed him back helplessly and her lips stung when he left - but whether it was from his kisses or the absence of them she didn’t quite know.

 

She had helped Cat with the dishes, and taken the dogs for a long walk, and then had come home and read. She was used to being alone, not during the summers of course,but during the year. Her father traveled and her mother drank and it lead to a lot of nights with her eating her dinner quietly as she did her homework.

 

You could get used to that, being alone. It got to a point where you didn’t really feel it. She had never felt it here, not with the Starks. Not when there was always something to do, and someone you loved to do it with.

 

She was afraid she was becoming one of those girls that relied too heavily on their boyfriend, but then she realised that she didn’t miss him. Well she did, she always did when he wasn’t around, but that wasn’t what made her sad.

 

She missed Sansa.

 

She wasn’t a fool, she knew it had only been a day, that Sansa was going through something, processing her feelings, but even still, she missed her. Last summer when the boys went out the two of them would stay up late and watch movies, painting each other’s nails, baking, camping out on the beach. Now it seemed like their every moment had been defined by the boys in their lives.

 

_I thought we were stronger than that._

 

She at least had Ghost and Grey Wind to keep her company, and they flanked her. They were such loyal dogs, and it was easy to forget they weren’t hers when they were up here. Grey Wind slept in her bed more nights than not and Ghost always laid at her feet at the dinner table, knowing he could expect some tasty morsels.

 

She’d tried texting Sansa, but had received nothing back. She wanted her to come home so that she could tell her that she hadn’t told Robb anything. That she wouldn’t, not ever. That everything would be so much simpler if everyone would just be _honest_ but she would never be the one to betray her.

 

In truth, she wanted to lock Jon and Sansa in a closet and be done with it.

 

“What say you, Ghost?,” she asked the white golden retriever. “Is Sansa as stubborn as your daddy?”

 

The dopey dog thumped his tail excitedly and rolled, exposing his belly to her. She wasn’t sure if there was any wisdom to be gleaned from that, except that she started petting him just like he wanted, so maybe he wasn’t so dopey after all.

 

She looked at her clock. It was past 11, and she figured that the the only thing more pathetic than sitting home alone was sitting and waiting for someone to come home. She went to turn her light off but then she heard the front door shut and a stampede of footsteps coming up the stairs.

 

Moments later there was a knock on the door and she called out for her lost boys to come in. They all looked defeated and more than a little drunk and she knew that there was only one thing that could make them look like that - well two, but she was safe and sound.

 

“What’s wrong?,” she asked, sitting up in fear. In truth she had half expected Sansa to be with them.

 

“We shouldn’t have left you,” Theon said glumly.

 

She patted the bed, and Robb and Jon pushed their dogs gently, climbing in on either side of her, Theon laying across the foot of the bed on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

 

“Was…Sansa there?,” she asked, though she already knew the answer.

 

“Yup,” they all said.

 

“But…she’s not here?,” she asked, though again, it was redundant.

 

“Nope,” they all chorused.

 

“It’s past curfew,” she pointed out and Jon nodded, his eyes wide though he wasn’t looking at her.

 

“She’s staying at the Tyrell’s,” Robb said.

 

_With Willas? With Margery…_

 

Sansa had always been fascinated with the beautiful Tyrell girl. Ella had never quite understood the appeal, but had never said anything because she seemed harmless.

 

“Oh,” she said, because they were all looking at her.

 

“It’s just a faze,” Theon said.

 

“He’s her first boyfriend,” Robb pointed out.

 

“Nothing we can do,” Jon continued.

 

They were right. They were all right, but they were sad too. They looked like a defeated army.

 

“None of you put her over your shoulder, did you?,” she asked in horror.

 

“Robb threatened it though,” Theon said, grinning for the first time.

 

She smacked Robb in the head with a pillow and he guffawed but it made Jon and Theon laugh and diffused the tension that had settled in the room.

 

“I restrained myself!,” Robb pouted.

 

“We’re all very proud,” Jon said.

 

“Says the boy who didn’t,” she pointed out with a grin.

 

This went on and on, and as it turned out, they had all done one crazy thing or another to protect the people each other. Ella settled back against the pillows, and felt just as unconditionally adored with Robb and Jon flanking her as she had when it was Grey Wind and Ghost.

 

She still missed Sansa. It was obvious they were missing a member of their pack, but even still, the boys chased the loneliness away like they always did. She would have asked them to stay, if she hadn’t fallen asleep before she thought of it, but when she woke her head was on Robb’s chest, and Jon’s back was to hers, Theon holding onto her foot. Usually she would rise right away but she settled back down and fell back asleep, contented by the realisation that she had never really been alone after all - and better yet - she never would be.


	6. You Can't Hurry Love

Sansa couldn't quite believe it was nearly August. The summer had been flying by in a never ending cycle of parties and days spent on the boat. She had been coming to the lake her entire life, but for the first time she was truly _tan,_ and she loved the way skirts looked against her bronzed legs and the golden highlights that had sprouted in her hair. 

 

"If I don't take a dip now I fear I'll melt into this chair," the beautiful girl laying beside her said lazily. 

 

Sansa turned, her cheek falling against the chair and grinned, "I'll join you. Want to swim to the beach?"

 

"All that way? Absolutely not," Margery said, wrinkling her pert nose. 

 

Sansa smiled at her friend and stood up, banishing thoughts of a very different beauty who would have hopped up and said _I'll race you_ before diving off the boat. They would have arrived at the same time, Ella was the better swimmer but she had the longer stroke, and collapsed onto the beach without a care for their hair that was bound to get sandy, laughing as Grey Wind or Lady shook out their wet fur, splattering them with water. 

 

Animals weren't allowed on the Tyrell's yacht, not that Loras' cat _Queeny_ seemed too interested in being included anyway. 

 

There were no bags of chips or cans of diet coke on the boat either, instead there was a full chef's kitchen and the sub-zero fridge was stocked with gourmet goodies all with a health conscious flare. Margery's mother prided herself on always having the exact proportions of her daughter, and so Margery prided herself on continuously reducing those proportions out of spite. 

 

Sansa thought of pulling out vintage dresses from her mother's wardrobe and how her still slim mother would say _"Oh I remember when I was small enough to fit in this, you take it darling - it will bring me joy to see you use it_ ". She couldn't quite imagine being in competition with her own mother, but she merely cooed as Margery strutted around half naked, holding up one garment or another against her.

 

"Where are you girls off to?," Willas asked with his trademark sunny smile as they approached the stern. 

 

"We're going to cool off," Margery said. "Care to join?"

 

Willas looked at her expectantly and she smiled at him, ignoring that bit of falseness she always felt when she did. He tugged her arm and pulled her into his lap, breathing in her neck where she had dabbed perfume that morning. A month ago she never would have imagined putting on perfume just to tan and swim all day but Willem Bracken, Margery's current love interest, had commented on how good she smelled the other day and so Sansa had followed suit.

 

If she were to stop and really think about it, she would probably realize that following suit was all she’d been doing that summer, but she’d made a point of not stopping and thinking so she didn’t really consider it. 

 

She had folded herself into the Tyrell’s lives seamlessly. There was always a place set for her at dinner time and she spent hours with all of them - tanning with Margery, listening to music with Loras, and mostly kissing Willas. She hadn’t been alone for a single moment it seemed for all of July, but that was just fine with her. 

 

She wrapped her arms around Willas’ and felt him squeeze her the way she wanted him to. He had great arms, and she liked how small her hands looked when they rested on his biceps. 

 

“Alright well we better go before Margery melts,” she joked, earning a wink from her friend. 

 

Willas said huskily in her ear, “Not until you pay the toll.” 

 

She turned and went to kiss his cheek, but he caught her lips halfway there in a soft kiss. If Margery and Willem were embarrassed by the display they weren’t saying anything, especially not when Margery stood behind Willem and leaned over him, tilting his head back for a kiss of their own. 

 

Willas never seemed to mind when his best friend and sister made out in front of him, and she didn’t have to waste time on thinking how Robb would feel if she did that. Willas would be in a body cast and she would be locked away in a high tower with only Lady for company.

 

They’d made up after their row the day after Willem’s party. Robb had apologized for being so pushy and she had apologized for being so nasty. He had hugged her and she felt so safe and small in his strong embrace that she almost blurted out the whole thing. She knew he would listen, even if he didn’t like it, and he wouldn’t make her feel stupid for falling in love with Jon. That wasn’t Robb. He would say something sweet and sympathetic and then watch her every interaction with Jon with a look of pity on his face. She didn’t want to be pitied, and she didn’t trust herself to be around Robb and not say something. Not with his kind eyes that matched her own and the gentle way he spoke to her. So she’d made a point of never being around him for too long. It was better this way. Really, it was.

 

It wasn’t like she never saw the boys and Ella. She made a point of having dinner at home at least twice a week and usually had breakfast with everyone before taking one of the jet skis over to the Tyrell’s on the south side of the lake.

 

It seemed Ella had grown even closer with the boys, not just Robb, and every time they all had dinner together Theon would say one word that would make all of them start cracking up, tears running down Ella’s face. They never went to parties without her now, and Sansa had seen them all laughing as Ella drew whiskers on Sam one night after he passed out. It looked like fun. If Sansa had been with them she would have told Ella to add a collar to his neck, but she’d been dancing with Margery and by the time she looked back over they were all leaving, Ella thrown over Theon’s shoulder. She’d held her hand up and waved at Sansa and Sansa had lifted her own in a frozen wave as well. She knew that if she called out for them, told them to wait up, that they would all howl and pull her in, pull her back. But then Jon had turned around as well and given her a sad little smile that found it’s way down to her ribs and she knew that she couldn’t do that.

 

She told herself it was normal. That everyone drifted away from their childhood friends in high school. She told herself she was having fun, a dreamlike summer filled with laughter and older boys - just like she’d always wanted. She told herself a lot of things until she grew tired of the competing voices in her head.

 

She extracted herself from Willas’ arms and stood up on the back of the boat, diving off of it. As she glided under water she tried not to think about how Ella would have given her a 10/10 for that dive, with extra points for flair.

 

***

 

“Why?,” Rickon asked his mom.

 

“Because your teacher said so,” Catelyn said with a sigh, looking at her rebellious youngest.

 

“She isn’t my teacher _yet_ ,” Rickon pointed out, with more logic than any seven year old had a right to have.

 

“Ned?,” Catelyn asked in exasperation and his father barely looked up from his work email and said only, “Listen to your mother, Bran.”

 

Which was really unfair to Bran, when you thought about it, who had completed his summer reading during the first week of summer and was now working on completing Arya’s list as well.

 

His wise little brother only shook his head, discarding a jack of diamonds which Ella immediately picked up.

 

“Rick, we all had to do it,” he said, stepping in because his dad who was normally so involved in all of their lives (like first name basis with the teachers, involved) had been distracted as of late and it seemed like it was wearing on his mom. “I’m almost done with mine and I bet it’s _way_ longer.”

 

“Yeah because you’re like a billion years old,” Rickon said and smiled when Ella snorted.

 

Robb shot her an accusing look and she said innocently, “Don’t worry, you look good for your age,” she then turned to Rickon and said, “What books do you have to read?”

 

“Um… _If You Give a Mouse a Cookie_ and the _The True Story of the Three Little Pigs_ ,” Rickon told her.

 

“Wait really? _The True Story of the Three Little Pigs_ , I _love_ that book. Do you think you could read it to me?,” Ella asked him with hope in her voice.

 

“Yeah! Could we maybe read in the tree house?,” Rickon asked, full of excitement now that the love of his young life was involved.

 

“ _Totally_ ,” Ella nodded, “We’ll pack snacks and do it tomorrow after camp, okay?”

 

“Yeah! Cool! After camp!,” Rickon said, his little body practically vibrating off of his chair.

 

His mom looked like she was about to get down on her knees and kiss Ella’s feet, but she looked in Robb’s eyes as if to say _This girl…_ As though Robb didn’t already know, as though he didn’t think about how perfect Ella was every day.

 

They’d been inseparable all summer, them, Jon and Theon. He missed Sansa every day but even still they’d had a glorious month of boating and partying and he was falling harder and harder for Ella every day. It didn’t help that with Sansa gone all the time, Ella had been filling in as a big sister to the kids. They had always all adored her, but it was different now, and he often would find Arya and Nymeria on Ella’s bed asking her advice or venting as Ella got ready for the evening, listening sympathetically and gently steering her in one direction or another. It made Robb’s heart constrict every time Ella made Bran dance as they baked cookies together, or sang silly camp songs with Rickon to distract him as their mom covered him in sunblock in the morning. She was so _good_ so truly good and made it seem effortless.

 

Sansa came outside, after having gone upstairs to change after dinner, wearing a new dress. Robb felt like he had long been biting his tongue as she strolled out evening after evening - when she was here at all - in one Margery inspired outfit or another.

 

“You look pretty,” Ella said to her with a small smile and Sansa hesitated before offering a smile of her own.

 

“Thanks - is that what you’re wearing?,” she asked with a tone in her voice Robb had never heard from her. Ella was in a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top, as she had been all day and she looked so beautiful it made his heart hurt, though her outfit was more appropriate for the couch then a night out.

 

“Oh, no, I’m not going tonight,” Ella said. “Trystane’s back.”

 

“Yeah I know - it’s gonna be _wild_ ,” Sansa said with a glimmer. Even Theon looked at her slack-jawed after that and she quickly amended, “He feels terrible about all that. He’s not really like that.”

 

“I’m sure he’s not,” Ella said, more kindly than she needed to in Robb’s opinion. “Even still, I’m worn out. But um… I was thinking…do you want to go to Wildling’s Beach tomorrow? Just us…? We could pick up ice cream at Pop’s or something…”

 

“Oh actually, Marg and I were going to go shopping tomorrow…,” Sansa said.

 

“Oh that sounds fun!,” Ella said brightly, though Robb knew she was lying. Ella would hate to waste a day inside when she could be on the water, but he knew she’d do it since it meant spending time with Sansa.

 

“Yeah, so rain check?,” Sansa asked her breezily.

 

His mother gave him an incredulous look. She’d been expecting, like they all were, that Sansa would invite Ella along. She had noticed the rift between Sansa and the rest of them weeks ago, but she’d merely sighed and said _first boyfriends can do that_. She hadn’t seen what the rest of them had seen, until now.

 

“Sure,” Ella said, looking down and discarding the Ace of Spades even though she had the King and Queen in her hands. Ella never let Bran win, never needed to, and Robb wanted to pull her into his lap right then and there.

 

“Oh man we haven’t been to Wildling’s Beach in _ages_ ,” Jon said though, in a similar tone as the one Ella had used when she was asking Rickon to read to her. “I know that _I_ wasn’t cool enough to merit an invitation, but Ghost get’s grumpy if I don’t come along for these things.”

 

“Ghost would literally leave you without a second thought for Ella,” Theon argued and Robb could have hugged them both then as Ella smiled in spite of herself.

 

The horn from the Tyrell’s boat cut through the silence and Sansa looked relieved. To his surprise, he was too. She waved at all of them and ran down the stairs, as though she was afraid they might leave without her. _Would that be so terrible?_ he wanted to ask, _To spend a night with us?_

 

As they heard the boat pull away, Ella kept her eyes on her cards, waiting patiently for Bran to make his next move.

 

“Ella dear,” his mom started. Ella looked up at her obediently, and he saw that his mom was at a loss for words.

 

After a moment Ella gave her a small smile and said, “I think tomorrow will be too beautiful to spend it inside anyway.”

 

***

 

It had taken some effort, but ultimately Theon had convinced him to go to the party. Things had gotten kind of uncomfortable after Sansa had left and Ella had excused herself after Bran trounced her in gin, saying goodnight to everyone even though the sky was not yet purple.

 

_“Dude come on,” Theon said. “Roslin’s making pot brownies. Have you_ **_seen_ ** _her when she’s high?”_

 

_“So you go,” Jon grumbled. He didn’t feel much like going out yet again only to watch Sansa hang on Willas’ arm all night, dancing with Margery and ignoring him._

 

_“No, I’m not going alone,” Theon argued petulantly, “NO MAN LEFT BEHIND.”_

 

_“Why don’t you bother Robb to go with you?,” Jon asked._

 

_“Because Robb is about two and a half minutes from running up to Ella’s room to see if she’s alright,” Theon pointed out._

 

_“He’s uh…not wrong there,” Robb said, his cheeks turning red._

 

_Well maybe I want to see if Ella is alright too, he thought, but from the look in his eyes, Theon wasn’t going to take no for an answer._

 

_“Fine.”_

 

It was a typical lake party. Guys in J Crew shorts and girls in Tory Burch sundresses laughed over their red cups, dancing and drinking. New couples paired off and old broke up in equal measure and it filled the entire house with a vibrancy - like _anything_ could happen.

 

 _Even that_ , Jon thought miserably as he saw Sansa and Willas slow dancing.

 

He turned away, not wanting to watch the way Sansa burrowed into Willas or the grin on his face as he twirled her hair in his fingers. He turned around and immediately saw Ygritte. _Fuck, why did I let Theon convince me to come here?_

 

He turned again and saw Val, and he understood that the universe was punishing him for all of his sins, including the one from last Wednesday when Val had pushed him into a coat closet at John Glover’s house, her hands down his pants before he’d even gotten the door shut.

 

“You need a drink,” Theon said with a dopey grin on his face. He and Roslin had shared a brownie and had been giggling at absolutely nothing for a full two minutes.

 

Jon sighed, he did need a drink. He made his way through the party out to the back deck where the bar was set up. He poured a bit of whiskey into a cup and took a small sip. He’d finish this drink and then go tell Theon he was leaving. This party wasn’t worth the hangover.

 

“Oh dude is that the whiskey?,” he heard from behind him. He turned around to hand the guy the bottle when he saw who the voice belonged to. _Perfect_. He set the whiskey down, draining his cup and crushing it in his hand.

 

“All yours,” Jon said, moving to walk away. He wasn’t worth it.

 

“So I guess it’s your night off then?,” Trystane called to him.

 

He turned around and said, “I’d walk away, man. Your nose looks better that way, don’t know what the next one’ll look like.”

 

“Seriously, is it like a schedule? I’m not gonna lie, I wouldn’t of minded getting my turn at that ass _oof_ it was _sweet_. Bet those green eyes look great when she’s down on her knees-,” he said with that smug grin.

 

Jon didn’t think, he only saw red. He crossed the distance between them and punched him right in his jaw.

 

“That’s my fucking sister your talking about,” Jon yelled at him and was about to hit him again when he felt arms wrapping around his chest. He could have fought the guy off but he’d gotten his punch in and knew, even though it killed him, that it was for the best.

 

“Jon! What are you _doing?,_ ” Sansa demanded. That was when he realised it was Willas who carried him out and it made him wish he had struggled more, “You look like an animal!”

 

“What am _I_ doing?,” Jon asked incredulously. “What are _you_ doing, Sansa? Did you actually _defend_ that guy tonight? To _Ella_? The girl he groped and then called a whore when she had the audacity to walk away?”

 

Sansa looked as though she’d been struck, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. He’d been bottling this, all of this, up for weeks now and Trystane had already released the wolf’s blood in him.

 

“He…said he was sorry…,” Sansa said.

 

“Well he fucking wasn’t! He just said it _again_ about Ella -,” he started and she cut him off furiously.

 

“Of _course_ this is about Ella,” Sansa yelled at him. “Why would I expect anything different from _you_?”

 

Fucking _what?_ Jon looked around hoping that someone, anyone, could throw him a lifeline. In what world would Sansa be upset about him looking out for Ella? But he realised as he did that they’d been left alone out here.

 

“Sansa she’s your best friend! Or had you forgotten that? Are the Tyrell’s so fucking precious that you couldn’t include her? Are we so fucking embarrassing that you had to ignore us? You completely _ditched_ her, you ditched all of us… why? Tell me why!,” he pleaded, gripping her arms as gently as he could.

 

“You of all people don’t want to ask me that,” she practically growled at him, pushing him off of her.

 

She went to storm off but he had seen something in her eyes. Something behind the anger. Sansa was _scared_.

 

He caught up to her, stepping in front of her.

 

“What’s wrong? Sansa tell me what’s wrong…If Willas…if he _hurt_ you…,” Jon vowed.

 

She laughed once, harshly. “You think Willas _hurt_ me? He’s the one who needs protection Jon. From me!”

 

“Why?,” he asked. _Why would anyone need protection from you - except me?_

 

“Why?,” she repeated. She buried her face in her hands and broke into a sob. He wasn’t exactly sure how they had gotten here but he wrapped his arms around her, holding her as a sob wracked her body. She twisted in his arms and he thought she was going to extract herself but she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on like he was a life raft.

 

_Oh my sweet, sweet girl, tell me, tell me everything, we’ll sort it out, you’ll see, it’s all going to be okay, I’ve got you, you’re safe, I’ll protect you, I promise._

 

“You can’t,” she said, pulling away from him. Mascara ran down her cheeks and her skin was blotchy and she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He hadn’t realised he’d been talking out loud until the moment she answered him.

 

“Why not?,” he asked, his arms still around her. He wasn’t going to let her go, not now, not when he could see she was coming back to him. She was stubborn, so stubborn, but he could see her veneer cracking.

 

“Because I’m in love with you.”

 

***

 

“Ella?,” Robb called softly into the darkened room.

 

“I’m fine, Robb,” she lied.

 

She felt the bed tilt under his weight. She had always been a rotten liar. He always told her so. She was grateful for it now, as he pulled her into his arms.

 

“I’m being stupid,” she said, as the first tear hit his shirt.

 

“You’re many things, Ella Baratheon, but stupid isn’t one of them,” he said.

 

It only made her cry harder, because that is what she had said to Sansa only a few weeks ago. She’d held her, just like this, as the sobs wracked her body, just like this.

 

 _Should I have told you then?_ she wondered. It was futile, to think like that. She could no sooner betray Jon’s trust than Sansa’s. No matter what it cost her.

 

“It’ll all be alright,” he said, “You’ll see.”

 

“It isn’t fair,” she said.

 

“I know -,” he started, but she interrupted him.

 

“No it’s not fair to _you_ ,” she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “You shouldn’t have to babysit me…I’m your girlfriend not your-“

 

“That’s right, Ella,” he said rolling them so he hovered over her, “You are my girlfriend - I’m not _babysitting_ you, I’m taking care of you - and don’t say it’s the same thing because it’s _not_. Do you think it costs me something to be here? Do you think there is a single moment when I don’t want to feel you in my arms?”

 

“Blubbering,” she pointed out, “And don’t you dare tell me I’m pretty when I cry.”

 

“You’ve never, in your _life_ , been merely pretty,” he said, tilting her chin up to look at him, “Tears or no. But I’d rather see you smile. Tell me, Ella,” he said, his blue eyes searching hers, “Tell me what I can do to make you smile.”

 

She lay on her back staring up at him as he hovered over her. He was on his knees, one on either side of her leg, boxing her in in every way. She reached her fingertips up to touch his cheek and he closed his eyes as her palm cupped his face. His cheek was warm to the touch and there was a comforting weight to it as he leaned against her.

 

They had spent every waking moment together for the past month - he devoted hours, days to her happiness. He was looking at her like he might devote years still and that in itself chased the tears away.

 

She breathed out deeply. She knew she should be scared, terrified really, but this was _Robb_. Her heart was safe with him, he had told her so himself, whispering it against her lips when they’d gone in the closet during seven minutes in heaven last week, and Robb Stark never lied.

 

“I’m in love with you,” she said, and she was surprised, though she shouldn’t have been, how strong her voice sounded.

 

He leaned in and kissed her deeply. He kissed her until she’d forgotten her tears, until she’d forgotten her very name, and when she was positively stupid he finally broke away.

 

“My god do I love you,” he said, his voice taking on a deep quality that made her shiver. She smiled, laughing at herself and he pushed her hair out of her face. “Is that all I had to say to make you smile? I would have told you weeks ago. I would have told you years ago. I would have told you every day that I’ve known you because it’s been true every day that I’ve known you.”

 

She let out a little cry and he swallowed it, placing both of his hands on her cheeks and kissing her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck and raised up, until he was sitting up on his knees and then she pushed him over. He went willingly, primed for surrender and she fell on top of him. Usually she would laugh at their lack of coordination but she was laying on top of him and one of his hands was buried in her hair and the other was trailing down her back and there was nothing very funny about it at all.

 

She remembered one night a month earlier when she’d wanted to crawl inside his heart and she smiled against his lips now because she hadn’t needed to - she’d been there all along.

 

“Ella,” he said as she nibbled on his ear, his voice shaky, his hands lightly gripping her wrists, “We have to…we need to stop.” _I don’t want to stop_ , she thought. She hadn’t realised she’d spoken out loud until he chuckled at her and kissed the top of her head. “Trust me, neither do I.”

 

She moved off of him, because it wasn’t the first time he told her to stop and she knew why and she knew he was right, even if in the moment she desperately disagreed.

 

She crawled under the covers, laying on her side so she could look at him. He was so beautiful, even when she could only see the outline of his face like now.

 

“Robb?,” she asked quietly.

 

“Yeah, El?,” he said and his voice had returned to normal.

 

“Will you stay with me?,” she asked, lifting up the other side of the covers and patting the spot beside her.

 

“Dad’d kill me if he found me here,” he warned. Then he lifted up the covers and crawled in. He pulled her against her and murmured, “Bring me death - Ella wills it so.”

 

She smiled against him as she wrapped her arm across his chest and hooked a leg over him. _Romeo has nothing on Robb Stark_ , she thought as she snuggled in.

 

The last thought she had before her dreams took over was _Tomorrow I’ll tell Sansa that she has to tell him. Or Jon. I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them that they can’t go a moment longer without feeling like this._


	7. Be My Baby

She had spent the better part of the last year wanting time to slow down. It was proof that theirs was a vengeful God, that this was the moment chosen to fulfil her wish.

 

Time had seemed to stop, if only for her and Jon. She was vaguely aware that there was still a party going on around them, but she couldn’t look anywhere other than his eyes. They seemed, not for the first time, to contain battles within them. Sieges and massacres and burning castles.

 

“ _Sansa_ ,” he said her name like a curse and a caress in equal measure. It raised the hair on her arms and her hackles all at once.

 

“I shouldn’t have -,” she starts, “I just -,” she continues. She’s ready. Ready to tell him it’s just a joke, or that she’s drunk, or that she just misses them all. She’s ready to tell him that she’s stupid, a stupid little girl who never learns. When the choice had been presented in the past between fight or flight, Sansa Stark had chosen flight every time.

 

But then she looks at him, at the way he flinches when she starts to speak. _He’s afraid_ , she realised. Of what exactly, there was no way of knowing. _If I leave now I’ll never know._

 

“I’m in love with you,” she said again, because she realised that she hadn’t chosen all summer. She had fought and she had flown and now she realised that there was a third option after all - surrender.

 

She never knew surrender could feel like liberation until she saw victory in Jon Snow’s eyes.

 

“You’re in love with me,” he said uselessly, as though she hadn’t just told him twice. “Are you sure?”

 

“Am I _sure_?,” she seethed, “Do you really think that I would risk _everything_ on a maybe?”

 

He was stubborn. Impossible. The single most infuriating person she had ever known.

 

“Risk?,” he asked her, “What risk? It’s not like I’m not in love with you too.”

 

“Oh and what, you think that’s just _obvious_?,” she spat at him.

 

“Well it _is_ a bit obvious,” he spat back.

 

She was ready to disagree with him, but then memories flashed before her eyes like old film reel. Memories from this summer _Jon picking her wildflowers, throwing her over his shoulder to take her away from Willas, the way he seemed to breath her in when they hugged_. Memories from this past year _Jon sitting through three Pitch Perfect movies with her, the way he always seemed to find her when he was on the lacrosse field, the way he’d pulled over at the bus stop in his big pick-up truck, running out and covering her with his own jacket as he put her inside._ Memories from an entire lifetime _Jon coming to check on her during the first thunderstorm every year, the way Ghost always tried to come with her on runs, the way he was looking at her right now._

 

_I am a stupid girl who never learns._

 

“I guess you’re right,” she said simply.

 

“I’m what now?,” he asked her, a small grin on his face.

 

“Don’t push it,” she warned, trying not to smile.

 

“Oh come on, Sansa… something tells me I’m not going to hear _that_ very often when we argue, let me savor it,” he teased.

 

“And what makes you think we’re going to argue?,” she challenged, though she too was smiling now.

 

He stepped forward. No one could invade her space like him. He surrounded her, she had never stood a chance.

 

He put his hand on her neck, his thumb under her chin, drawing her gaze to his and said, “Because I’m going to love you forever Sansa Stark, _but you can be a real pain in the ass_.”

 

“You’re one to tal-,” she started, but he proved her wrong once again, because he didn’t say anything at all.

 

She wasn’t sure if time had started once again, but Jon Snow kissed her like he was never going to stop so she supposed it didn’t really matter anyway.

 

***

 

There was nothing quite like waking up with Ella Baratheon in your arms. He knew they were being stupid, they were risking everything, his parents had been so cool but there was no way they’d be okay with _this_.

 

Ella always slept like the dead, and he really didn’t want to _shout_ at her but he also really didn’t want her to wake up and think that he’d just left her so he kind of rattled her shoulders at gently as he could, watching her scrunch her eyes stubbornly as though it was just a dream.

 

“What?,” she grumbled grouchily and rolled into him, burrowing underneath him to avoid the sunlight.

 

“You’re a real joy in the morning, anyone ever tell you that?,” he teased.

 

“Robb?,” she all but shouted, covering her mouth, her green eyes wide as she looked up at him.

 

“Were you expecting someone else?,” he teased and she shook her head, but she didn’t remover her hands. “What are you doing?”

 

“Muhmhg buffth,” she mumbled. He pulled her hands away gently and she faced away from him, repeating, “Morning breath.”

 

“Ella, I’ve seen you every morning, every summer since you were six. We’ve camped together more times than I can count. And I told you last night that I’m in love with you. Do you really think that _morning breath_ is going to scare me?,” he asked her incredulously.

 

“I’m very vain,” she said, not being able to hide her smile, “You should know that by now.”

 

He picked her up and pulled her on top of him, “You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever know and the least vain girl I’ve ever known too. And there is nothing that will scare me away.”

 

She leaned down and kissed him, her legs straddling him, her hands weaving into his hair. He placed one hand on her back, crushing her to him and his other hand wandered down, ever so slowly to her butt. He groaned against her when he felt how perfect it was and she pulled on his hair and deepened the kiss.

 

He felt her move against him and he felt like an animal, rolling them over so he was pinning her to the bed and devouring her lips. When she broke away to draw breath he dragged his lips down to her neck, and now it was her hands on his butt, pulling him against her.

 

“ _Robb_ ,” she sighed and that was the kind of thing that could drive a boy mad, pulling him back up to her lips.

 

Her hands were everywhere and so were his and before he knew it she had pulled his shirt off and was kissing every part of him she could reach. He was kneeling above her and when he looked down there was fire in her eyes. She sat up, never breaking eye contact, and he sat on his calves as she pulled off her shirt, her golden hair falling around her in waves.

 

He was vaguely aware that he had woken her up to say goodbye but she was kneeling now too and her arms were around his neck and her skin was against his and he couldn’t imagine leaving her.

 

Her skin was like silk as his fingers trailed up her sides, taking detours in the divets of her ribs. He didn’t dare touch her anywhere else, but he let his hands move to her back, one reaching up and cupping her slender neck.

 

“Do we have to stop?,” she asked softly, all but pouting.

 

“Not yet,” he said, shaking his head, “I won’t lose control, do you believe me?”

 

“Of course I believe you,” she said, like he was the silliest boy who’d ever lived. “ _Robb Stark never lies_.”

 

She said it like she’d said it to herself many times before. As though if everything else abandoned her, she would still have _that_ to cling to.

 

“I love you,” he said, crawling on top of her again, “Do you hear me?”

 

“I heard you,” she said pulling his face to hers and kissed him, “But even still, tell me again, won’t you?”

 

***

 

Flashes, brilliant flashes, of last night played before his eyes. Sansa telling him she loved him, the way her hands had disappeared in his hair when he kissed her, the whispered words they’d shared on the walk home - both talking so fast, everything spilling out of them at once.

 

He took a pillow and placed it over his face and did an embarrassing little groan-squeal. He couldn’t help it - Jon Snow was _happy_.

 

He bounded out of bed, running to the bathroom to brush his teeth and put on deodorant. It was still early and it was entirely possible that Sansa _wouldn’t_ be awake, but he didn’t want to give her any excuse to change her mind. Not that he was worried about that, not really.

 

He walked out of his bedroom and padded down the hallway to her bedroom, knocking lightly, “Sansa,” he whispered, “ _SANSA,”_ he whisper hissed.

 

He figured if she were naked she would have shouted for him not to come in, _unless_ , _no, no focus_ , so now that he knew she wouldn’t be naked he felt like it was okay for him to poke his head in.

 

Lady looked up from where she lay at the foot of Sansa’s bed and Jon pleaded with her silently not to bark. _I always bring you treats and give you even more belly rubs than Robb does. You owe me this._ As though she understood that an accord had been struck she rested her head back down, sighing loudly as if to say _Fine, but don’t make me regret this._

 

He walked over to the bed and saw Sansa curled on her side. He went and sat on the edge of her bed, his hand stroking her silky hair. Ella would be asleep for hours yet if someone did this to her but Sansa had always been a light sleeper and shifted awake.

 

“Jon?,” she asked dreamily, opening her eyes slowly.

 

“Morning baby,” he said, allowing his fingers to trail along the slope of her cheek. She was so utterly beautiful, and he needed to feel her to remind himself that she was real, that she was his.

 

“I don’t want to get up yet,” she said. He moved to stand up so that she could sleep in peace but she tugged on his arm, pulling him down with more strength than he knew she had.

 

He eased himself against her pillows, the smelled like her and were covered in embroidered white pillowcases. He felt entirely too big, too boyish to be in her bed, but she eased herself off of the pillows and rested her head on his chest and he didn’t mind so much anymore.

 

He wrapped his arm around her and trailed his fingertips up and down her arm.

 

“Sansa?,” he asked her softly, wondering if she’d actually fallen back asleep.

 

“Mmmhm?,” she asked, snuggling in closer in a way that made his insides flip flop.

 

“Can we spend the day together?,” he asked, “Just us?”

 

He felt like there was so much to say still, he had never felt like talking more. Everything could be summed up in one sentence _I love you_ but he’d say it a million different ways if he could have her all to himself for just a little while.

 

She opened her eyes, as though the question had jolted her into wakefulness. She sat up and looked at him, before looking down at her comforter and picking at a nonexistent loose thread.

 

“No… no today Jon, I’m sorry…,” she said, shaking her head.

 

Oh. _Oh._

 

“Yeah okay - I mean…maybe some other time then, maybe-,” he started, and was for once thankful that she cut him off because he really wasn’t sure what to say to that.

 

“I have to talk to Willas today,” she explained softly. _Willas_ , Jon thought. In truth he had forgotten all about Willas. “He deserves to hear it from me, the way Ygritte heard it from you.”

 

 _And look how well that worked out_ , Jon thought and immediately regretted it. Willas was a good guy, Sansa was right, she owed him this.

 

“And then…,” she said, and trailed off, as though trying to make herself smaller.

 

“What? Tell me what it is, we’ll work it out, I promise,” he cooed at her in a voice he hadn’t realised he was capable of.

 

“Ella,” she said and her face crumbled.

 

“Oh baby,” he said, pulling her against him and rubbing her back, “Is that what has you all turned around?”

 

“How could it not? I’ve been _awful_ to her,” Sansa said.

 

“She’s never once said anything bad about you,” he said and winced when she only started crying harder. _Way to guilt her jackass._ “I just mean… she just misses you. You know her, that is the all of it, no ill will, no grudges. Just tell her how much you missed her and everything will go back to normal.”

 

She nodded, seeing the reason in it. Whether it was faith in him or in Ella he didn’t really care, not when she wiped the tears from her cheeks, a new sense of purpose in her beautiful blue eyes.

 

She hopped out of bed and ran to her vanity, starting to brush her hair. That was the thing about Sansa, all she needed was a reason to get out of bed in the morning and she was unstoppable.

 

He rose from bed too and walked over to her and kissed her cheek.

 

“See you later,” he said in her ear.

 

She grabbed his arm before he could walk away, and his eyes met hers in the mirror.

 

“I’m free _tonight_ though…,” she said, “I mean, if you wanted.”

 

He grinned, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek, “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

 

“You’ll pick me up?,” she challenged, which was fair given that their bedrooms were four doors away from one another’s. Then looked doubtful, “What should I wear?”

 

“Surprise me,” he said with a grin, leaving before she could throw something at him.

 

He hurried out of her bedroom and closed the door as softly as he could. He turned to his left and saw Robb doing the same thing, coming out of Ella’s room.

 

“Snow,” Robb said warily.

 

“Stark,” Jon returned.

 

In any other situation, one or both of them probably would have punched the other, but there is a loyalty among thieves and so they both averted each other’s gaze and walked towards their respective rooms in silence.

 

***

 

Ella couldn’t find it in her to stop smiling. Robb had left only moments earlier and she knew that she should get up, get ready for tennis, go ask the boys if they were still on for Wildling’s beach, but she found she couldn’t lift herself from the pillows.

 

 _Robb Stark loves you_ , she thought and hugged herself with a little giggle. A part of her had known it, but there was nothing like saying it and having it said back in return. _My God do I love you…_ he’d said. His voice had gotten really deep and his eyes really wide, as though he couldn’t quite believe any of it.

 

 _I wish I could tell Sansa_ , she thought suddenly. That was enough to wipe the smile from her face, to make the adrenaline fade as the memory of why he’d come to her room in the first place returned.

 

She got out of bed and padded to her bathroom. She had meant to only brush her teeth, but found herself turning on the shower as well. She stepped in and let the warm water rush over her, using her favorite jasmine scented shampoo, trying to forget everything else.

 

She padded out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body and one wrapped around her hair. She jumped when she saw someone sitting in the chair by her window.

 

“Sansa! Oh my god you scared me,” she said, taking a deep breath, “What are you - are you alright?”

 

“No,” Sansa said, shaking her head. “I’m not alright. I’m horrible, awful, and so so sorry.”

 

“Oh Dovey,” she said crossing to her, “You don’t have to -“

 

“Yes I do,” Sansa said, holding up her hand. “The boys will get over it, they’ll chalk it up to a bit of girly craziness but… I have to say this to you. I realised I was in love with Jon and it terrified me. I’m not like you, I don’t dive head first into things. I…could never do what you and Robb did. I was so afraid. So afraid that Jon couldn’t love me back, that I would _ruin_ everything. I felt like I was coming out of my skin, like I was being devoured from _within_. I couldn’t…I couldn’t be around him, and Robb - I was so afraid I would just blurt it all out. And being around you was too hard because you were the only one who knew, I could pretend with everyone else, but not with you. So I pushed you away, and I’m _so sorry_.”

 

“I missed you,” Ella said when she was finished. “I just really missed you.”

 

“I missed you too,” Sansa said, “I let a boy come between us and I’ll never do it again. You and I - we’re _stronger than that_.”

 

Ella let out a little cry laugh and crossed the remaining way, hurling herself into Sansa’s lap. They were a tangle of slender limbs and happy tears and everything was right in the world.

 

“Dovey,” Ella said, “What _are_ you going to do about Jon?”

 

“Well…,” Sansa said with a small smile and Ella squealed, “He loves me too.”

 

“Obviously,” Ella said, because she couldn’t help it.

 

“You knew?,” Sansa cried.

 

“Of course I knew,” Ella said, “And I would no sooner have betrayed Jon’s trust than yours.”

 

“I can’t believe this -,” Sansa said shaking her head incredulously.

 

“Call it even?,” Ella suggested and Sansa nodded, wrapping her arms around her, settling back against the chair. “Robb loves me too…”

 

It was Sansa’s turn to squeal and they interrupted one another in their attempt to ask questions, dissolving into laughter.

 

To an innocent bystander, they would have seemed like any other friends, gossiping about the boys they were dating, but Sansa and Ella knew differently. They loved Jon and Robb, foolishly, willingly, limitlessly, but they had found the love of their lives years before on a swing set at Mordane’s preschool. The Ancient Greeks might have called them soulmates, and the boys liked to say they were two sides of the same coin. Ella wasn’t sure about all that, she didn’t like the idea of their fate being written. Sansa and her _chose_ each other, every day, and she knew now that no matter what, in the end, they always would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So have I redeemed myself? Would love to hear what you think :)


	8. (What a) Wonderful World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, thank you so much for your support on this one. I loved writing it, but I think I've taken it as far as I'd like to. I love this story and these couples though, so I wanted to give it a proper ending. I hope you all enjoy.

**TWENTY FIVE YEARS LATER**

 

Sansa finally finished loading the last of the groceries in the fridge and looked around at the large downstairs of her lake house. Somehow her boys and their friends had already made a mess in the way that only teenage boys could, and she went to try to restore order.

 

It was an effort in futility because the front door busted open and she turned just in time to see her beautiful niece launch herself into Jon’s waiting arms.

 

“Uncle Jon!,” Kitty cried.

 

“There’s my girl,” he said, hugging her tight. “How did that history final go?”

 

“I got a 100!,” she said with a blush, “Thanks for testing me.”

 

“Anytime, darlin’, you know that,” he said, and made her blush further by saying, “I’m very proud of you, I know that course gave Ned a run for his money…”

 

“Thanks Uncle Jon… you remember Sally right?,” she asked, gesturing to her raven haired friend in the denim cut-offs.

 

Sansa had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. They hadn’t seen Sally since last summer and the girl had done some growing up. At fifteen, every year counted, and she knew now why her youngest, Ben, had been so eager to get here.

 

“Hey Auntie Sansa,” her nephew, James, said as he entered, carrying his and Kitty’s and seemingly her friend Sally’s bags.

 

At seventeen and a football star he was more than capable and he doted on hislittle sister, just like Robb had with her. He set the bags down and enveloped her in a bear hug. He should have grown out of his affectionate stage by now, but he had missed that awkward adolescent boy stage.

 

“Hi honey,” she said, hugging him back, “I made you some lemon bars.”

 

“Don’t tell anyone but you’re my favorite,” he whispered in her ear and she laughed and shoved him away.

 

Robb and Ella came in, and Robb looked much like his son, even after all these years, and was also loaded up with bags. Ella only had their new puppy in her arms, who was simultaneously trying to escape to smell all the new smells and also lick her face.

 

“I do hope you haven’t established any sense of order,” Ella said with a grin, accepting Jon’s kiss to her cheek, “I’m afraid we’ll ruin it.”

 

“Impossible,” Sansa said with a grin as Jon went back outside with Robb to grab more bags.

 

“When did you guys get in?,” Ella asked her as Sansa pet the puppy Bo.

 

“Just an hour or so ago,” she said, and was surprised that Ned and Ben and their friends Will and Simon hadn’t yet come downstairs, “Not sure where the wolves are.”

 

“Oh I’m sure they’ll make themselves known,” Ella said with a grin. “Now why don’t you and I sit and let the boys do some work?”

 

“You know they’ll just ask us where everything goes anyway, don’t you?,” Sansa asked.

 

They’d been sharing the house (only a few houses away from her parents) since the summer she and Ella were first pregnant, and even still Jon and Robb were helpless with the organisation of it all. They were happy to do the heavy lifting, but needed a fair bit of direction.

 

“They’ll know where to find us. Come on Dovey…,” she said, holding out her hand.

 

“Where you goeth, I goeth,” Sansa said with a grin and placed her hand in Ella’s.

 

They headed out to the terrace to sit and let the whirlwind rage all around them. They’d seen one another yesterday, and spoken that morning, but they still had things to catch up on - they always did.

 

***

 

He was glad they’d left as early as they did. James had grumbled about the early hour, though only until Kitty had teased him about being a grumpy old man, and they now had almost a full day on the lake. Sure, they had a whole summer ahead of them, but they’d all been dying to get here.

 

He sat on the back terrace with Jon, Ella and Sansa, as well as his nephews, Ben and Ned, their friends Will and Simon, and James. Ned and James were the same age, and Will was really his friend too, and the group of boys had Sansa and Ella in horrified hysterics.

 

He was about to call Kitty for dinner when she strolled out with her friend Sally. It was like stepping back in time when she came outside. She was all Ella, the only feature she’d inherited from him were her eyes. She however was wearing a dress that Ella never would have dreamed of wearing.

 

“No sweetheart,” he said to her.

 

“Daddy,” she protested.

 

He could see Jon grimacing at his side, he was a doting uncle and was insanely protective of her too. As the only girl in the younger generation, she was the princess and all the men in her life adored her, but it wasn’t the same. She was _his_ little girl and there was no way she was going out wearing that.

 

“Go change,” he said, which to his annoyance, caught the attention of all the boys. They had all, including her brother and cousins, been seated facing away from her.

 

Ella opened her mouth to protest but their nephew Ned spoke up.

 

“Kitten go change,” he told her firmly.

 

“Ned, why don’t you stay out of it,” Sansa said.

 

“No,” he argued, “I am _not_ taking her to a party with her wearing that.”

 

“You promised you’d take us,” Sally piped up.

 

“And we will,” James said to her sternly, “As soon as Kitty changes.”

 

“I think she looks good,” Simon offered.

 

“Watch it,” Ned, Ben, and James all said in tandem.

 

Robb had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, and he avoided looking at Jon, knowing he’d react the same. That would not go over well with any of the women in his life.

 

To his knowledge, they’d never really told them that it was their job to protect Kitty, it had just happened naturally. She was the youngest of the bunch, and the only girl, and they all danced merrily to her tune, but they were all fiercely protective of her, and he still remembered the day Ben had been to the principal’s office at school for punching a kid on the playground who had knocked her to the ground. That had earned him a special birthday gift from Uncle Robb that year.

 

“Mom,” Kitty pleaded.

 

Ella turned to look at him and then looked at Jon, Ned, James and Ben.

 

“Sweetheart, I have been on the receiving end of what you’re getting right now,” she said with an accusing look at him and Jon in particular, “And I know how frustrating it can be, but I think in this case your father is right. We bought you a number of lovely pieces last weekend that will do the trick. Besides it always gets freezing on the lake at night.”

 

“Come on, my love,” Sansa said, popping up, and crossing to her, “Let’s go find you something else, how about that navy blue dress we got at Thistle last month?”

 

Kitty nodded and followed her beloved aunt out dutifully. Sally took a seat next to Ben and Robb thought that his nephew might spontaneously combust.

 

“I’m not happy with the way that was handled,” Ella said softly. She never shouted, she didn’t need to.

 

“I’m sorry, Auntie Ella,” Ben said to her.

 

“I’m not,” James said.

 

“James,” Robb warned.

 

“Dad she’s fifteen! That dress made her look about eighteen,” he protested, “Look at these two -,” he said gesturing to Will and Simon, “They are our friends and they couldn’t keep their eyes off of her.”

 

“Mr. Stark…,” Will started and Robb waved him off.

 

While Simon was only a year ahead of Kitty, Will was the same age as Ned and had been coming to the house ever since they’d met in preschool. He had seen the way Will had looked at Kitty, and the way Kitty had looked at him. He had seen this all before, and he also knew that Will had looked at her once as she stepped out and then purposefully looked away. His eyes hadn’t lingered, which was one of the reasons he still possessed them.

 

“James, Ned, I understand that you love her. I love how you love her, alright? But I need you to be a little gentler and I don’t want her thinking that what she _wears_ dictates how she should be treated,” Ella said and her gaze fell to him and Jon as well, “She, along with Sally here, and every other girl in the world deserves _respect_ no matter _what_ she wears, is that clear?”

 

The boys all nodded, appropriately chagrined. Ella rarely reprimanded them, especially in recent years. They were all great kids, they had gotten lucky, so lucky, so when she did, they all listened.

 

A moment later Kitty walked back out with Sansa right behind her. His sister was shooting glares at all of them, though she needn’t have.

 

“Sweetheart you look stunning,” Ella said, getting up and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

 

She was right, but thankfully she looked fifteen as well, in her white jeans and blue tank top.

 

“What did you do to them, Mom?,” Kitty asked her with a grin, her annoyance forgotten, wrapping her arms around Ella’s neck and leaning her face into her neck, “They look like you put them on the rack.”

 

Ella hugged their daughter to her, and even at forty she was just as girlish and beautiful, and kissed her forehead.

 

“I just had a little talk with them is all,” Ella evaded and mother and daughter alike giggled, “They didn’t mean to be brutes, they just love you. And trust me, as someone who has experience being loved by Stark and Snow men - they’re worth a little annoyance now and then.”

 

“Come here, Kitten,” Ned said, gesturing to the seat next to him, “Sit right next to me and tell me all the ways I’m an ass.”

 

“Do you want that list alphabetically or thematically?,” Kitty inquired, making everyone laugh, though she went and sat next to her beloved older cousin anyway, letting him smack a kiss on her cheek.

 

The meal passed as they always did, with great food and laughter. When Ella and Sansa brought out a chocolate cake the boys, including him and Jon, all hooted and hollered.

 

Despite their being a party to go to, the kids didn’t rush off. They all sat, finishing conversations, knowing full well that there was a whole evening for a party, a whole summer of them just waiting. Kitty took the opportunity to come over and plop herself in his lap.

 

“Daddy,” she started, speaking softly, just like her mother. “Next time, can we talk privately?”

 

“Of course, baby, I’m sorry,” he apologised. Most fifteen year old girls would have thrown a tantrum, but she was her mother’s daughter and was full of dignity beyond her years. He really hadn’t meant it to turn into such a _thing_ , he had forgotten how truly like him and Jon Ned and James could be at times. He remembered what Ella had said, “And you know that no matter what you wear, you should be treated like a lady, don’t you?”

 

She nodded and then looked at him curiously, “What did Mom wear the summer you guys started dating?”

 

“My sweatshirt, most of the time,” he said with a small smile, looking over at Ella who was laughing with Ned and Ben. Kitty stared at him dumbfounded and he smiled, stroking her cheek, “That’s the thing about beauty like yours and your mothers, you don’t need anything to make you stand out. And you want someone who is going to find you just as lovely no matter what you’re wearing, no matter what you look like, because you really are just like your mother, baby. Your face, as lovely as it is, is no match for that soul of yours.”

 

“But High school boys don’t care about souls,” she protested.

 

He looked over at Will who seemed to be watching the way the breeze tossed Kitty’s curls and thought about the way he’d looked at her when she’d had the flu last month, and she’d come into the kitchen feverish and nearly coughing up a lung, in a pair of pajama pants and one of James’ sweatshirts. He was clear across the room when she’d stumbled, feeling dizzy, and yet he’d made to go catch her. Thankfully James had been right next to her, but Will had gone unprompted to get a cool compress and pressed it gently to her forehead, looking down at her intently - and if Robb was being honest with himself - lovingly.

 

“Some do, baby,” he said and turned away from Will and kissed her forehead, “And you know this lot will do a good job of weeding the wrong ones out.”

 

***

 

The house was quiet without all the kids. They’d left with promises of kept curfews and a designated driver. They weren’t such fools as to believe that their children wouldn’t do exactly what they had done when they were their age, but they had all ingrained in them that they never _under any circumstances_ drive the boat after drinking.

 

They all cleared the plates and set about their different tasks of cleaning up. He and Sansa were always on leftover duty, with her looking at things and determining whether anyone would want them in the days to come. Ella washed and Robb dried, the two working together seamlessly as they had for so many years.

 

“Where were they going again?,” Sansa asked.

 

“The Hornwood’s,” Robb said, turning to them with a grin.

 

 _Some things never change_.

 

Much of their generation had either inherited their parent’s homes, or still shared them, some like them had purchased their own, but they all kept coming to the lake every year.

 

Their kids had all grown up with it, and just like them, the lake was in their blood. They hardly ever wore shoes, and they were all happier in bathing suits than clothes. They’d all be tan by the end of this week and Sansa or Ella would turn to them at dinner one night and say, “ _You all look so healthy_.”

 

“Should we take bets on how long it takes Ben to work up the courage to ask Sally out?,” Jon offered.

 

“Jon Snow!,” Ella exclaimed, turning to him with a grin, “That is awful. But I bet not before August if he’s anything like his Daddy.”

 

“Well if he _is_ like his Daddy,” Sansa chimed in, “Then Sally will have to ask him out.”

 

“Hey I asked you out!,” Jon protested.

 

“Yeah after she told you she was in love with you,” Robb pointed out. “Real risk taker, aren’t you?”

 

Sansa and Ella giggled and he couldn’t help but chime in. He’d wasted some time back then, but he’d never wasted a moment after they’d gotten together. They were engaged while they were still in college, and though like all couples they had their share of ups and downs over the past twenty five years, he was even more in love with her now than he had been that summer. To his surprise and delight, she felt the same.

 

“I wish Will would take a page out of your book, Robb,” Ella said with a sigh, handing him the last dish. “So much of this would be resolved if she just _knew_ he felt the same way about her.”

 

“You think that dress was for Will’s benefit?,” Jon asked curiously.

 

Will was a great kid, he’d been friends with Ned and James since preschool, and he’d always been bright and talented and kind. He was a good looking kid too, so he couldn’t fault Kitty for her taste. Even still, the thought of his niece _dating_ filled him with the same trepidation he’d felt for Ella all those years ago. He’d nearly keeled over when she’d come out on the terrace and while he agreed with what Ella had said, he’d been relieved when she’d left with Ned’s sweater and arm draped over her shoulders.

 

“You really are tragically unobservant, aren’t you?,” Sansa asked him with a kiss to his cheek.

 

“Is it that obvious?,” he asked curiously.

 

“Yes,” they all said in unison.

 

“And you’re in a rush for her to be in a relationship?,” he asked Ella.

 

Her and Robb were great parents, completely in Ned and Catelyn’s image. They were involved and loving and fun, and there had never been a decision of theirs that he’d questioned even though they’re children had all grown up as siblings and he loved Kitty and James like they were his own.

 

“No, you know I want time to stop just as much as you do. I can’t believe how grown up she, they all are now. But the way she looks at Will…she’s fallen for him completely and I’m eager for her to know that she isn’t alone in that. That she’s loved back.”

 

Jon nodded, understanding immediately what she meant. How much had happened that first summer because Sansa hadn’t realised he loved her too? How much had Ella been spared?

 

He pulled Sansa to him and kissed the back of her head, breathing her in. She leaned against him, and sighed in contentment.

 

Arya would be coming up with Gendry and their little boys later in the week, and Bran and Jojen and their new baby would be staying with the Starks. Rickon, the baby and the bachelor of the bunch, would come up on weekends and would cause wildness in his niece and nephews, especially if he brought up a new girlfriend or two (though Ella and Sansa had stipulated only one at atime this summer). Even Theon and his wife would be coming up with their three girls (which Theon totally deserved) later in the summer to stay for the month of August.

 

Their kids were all together and happy - as close friends as they’d all been at their ages - and falling in love just like they were supposed to.

 

He kissed Sansa’s cheek and wondered how soon he could convince her to retire to bed. He stayed up until the kids got home, and he was hoping Sansa might help him find a way to spend the hours.

 

She turned to him and said coyly, “I think we still have a lot of unpacking to do, don’t we?”

 

“Mmmhm,” he nodded with a grin, “Night guys.”

 

“Night deviants,” Ella said with a laugh, seeing right through them.

 

He took Sansa’s hand and lead her giggling to their bedroom and for a moment he felt like he was seventeen again.

 

***

 

“We don’t have to unpack right now, do we?,” Robb asked and Ella tried to hide her smile.

 

Her husband was a very observant man, but after years of being best friends with his sisters boyfriend turned husband, he had created an automatic filtering system. He simply didn’t see certain things, even though they were smack you in the face obvious.

 

“No,” she said, “Why? What do you have in mind?”

 

“I want to take you for a boat ride,” he said with his gorgeous grin and just like that, she was fifteen again.

 

“You have your phone for the kids?,” she asked, because even when she was transported back in time, she was still a mom first and foremost.

 

“And a sweater for you,” he promised.

 

She placed her hand in his and let her lead her out down the stairs to the dock. Though she didn’t need it, he helped her in and she sat next to him on the bench seat as he turned on the boat. She pulled on the sweater he’d given her, and she was very glad Kitty had changed into jeans. It was entirely too cold for a sundress.

 

She leaned against him and he tucked her under his arm. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, and he felt warm where she was cold. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm in a slow steady rhythm.

 

She had always loved being driven by him, whether on the boat or in a car. She had always felt so safe with him that she found it hard not to fall asleep, lulled by the gentle breeze.

 

“We’re here, El,” he whispered and she opened her eyes.

 

“Robb is it?,” she asked, standing up and reaching her arms up to feel the willow tree leaves in her hands.

 

“The same,” he nodded, turning off the engine and letting them drift as he had that first night.

 

It still felt like another planet, a dream world, and he was there with her and it was perfect.

 

“Have I told you today that I love you?,” she asked.

 

“A few times,” he said with a grin, pulling her to him, “But I’ll take it once more.”

 

“I love you, Robb Stark,” she said, “More and more every day.”

 

“As I love you, Ella Baratheon,” he said, “I thought that night that there was no way I could love someone more than I loved you in that moment. I was such a fool.”

 

“Not a fool,” she shook her head, “Just young.”

 

“I remember thinking you were the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, shaking his head, “And you are more beautiful now than you were then.”

 

“Oh please,” she said, burying her face in his chest. It seemed every day she was finding a new laugh line.

 

“It’s true…,” he said, tilting her head up to look at him, “My darling girl. There is no measure of time I could be given with you that would allow me to get used to this face, or this heart.”

 

“ _Robb_ ,” she breathed and he acquiesced and kissed her.

 

They had never tired of one another. There had been times when the kids had been little and they had both been exhausted, falling asleep in each other’s arms as soon as their heads hit the pillow, but even then, they had still wanted each other.

 

He was still her partner in all things, her protector and confidante, and he was such a brilliant father that she fell in love with him a little more every time she saw Kitty crawl into his lap, even now when she was so desperate to grow up, or the way James would look to him and silently base his behaviour off of him.

 

He was about to pull her onto him when his phone started to buzz in the cupholder. Though they both wanted to ignore it, they didn’t. They were parents.

 

The caller ID said _James_ so she picked it up immediately.

 

“Hi baby,” she said, “Is everything alright?”

 

“I’m sorry Mom,” her beloved firstborn said and her blood went cold.

 

“What’s going on James, is Kitty alright? Are Ned and Ben?,” she asked.

 

“Yeah, yeah, sorry sorry, we’re all fine,” he said and she could tell he’d been drinking, “I just…Ned and I got our wires crossed and I thought he was DD and he thought I was and… can you ask Dad to come get us?”

 

“We’re already on the boat, baby, we’ll be there soon,” she assured him, “You’re at the Hornwoods still, right?”

 

“Yeah, Mom. I’m really sorry,” he said again. She nodded at Robb and he started the boat. Thankfully the kids had taken the smaller one so there would be room for all of them.

 

“That’s okay, baby, you did the right thing. You always call, no matter what,” she said, “Just keep everyone together, we’ll be there in a few minutes.”

 

They weren’t far away from the Hornwoods now who lived on the opposite side of the lake as them, so they made it in only a few minutes.

 

“They feel terrible, Robb,” she said tentatively, “Let’s save any lectures for the morning.”

 

He was the disciplinarian of the two. He admittedly didn’t need to discipline any of them often, they were remarkably good kids, but when he did he looked more like Ned Stark than she would have thought possible.

 

“They called,” he said easily, kissing her temple, “Just like you said, that’s all that matters.”

 

The party was like stepping back in time, with boats lining the docks and filling the boathouse, music blaring from the speakers and kids in various degree of dress.

 

Robb pulled up to the dock and threw James the line, and she handed the other to Ben as they got closer.

 

“You kids have fun?,” Robb asked as they all climbed in.

 

Ella didn’t fail to note that Will had hopped in and helped Kitty down, before her brother or either cousin had the chance.

 

They all looked at him dumbfounded, clearly anticipating getting chewed out. Kitty it appeared, was not as nervous as the boys though.

 

“Hi Daddy!,” she said cheerfully, coming over and hugging him, “I had a _great_ time.”

 

“Hi baby,” he said, and then backed away from her breath, turning to the boys,“Whiskey guys, really?”

 

“We felt bad about earlier,” Ned said, bowing his head and Ella couldn’t help but grin at them.

 

She helped extricate Robb from Kitty and stood up so that Kitty could sit next to him on the bench seat. She leaned her head against him, just as Ella had done a minute earlier and he wrapped his arm around her, kissing her head.

 

She went and sat in between James and Ned.

 

“Sorry Auntie Ella,” Ned said, and leaned his head against her shoulder. He was a great hulking boy, just like James, but he was a softy when it came to the women in his life.

 

She stroked his inky black curls, so like his father’s.

 

“That’s okay,” she told him, “Stark and Snow men having too much fun to drive is a longstanding lake tradition.”

 

James curled into her too, and asked, “Really? I mean, I’ve heard the stories but… it’s hard to imagine Dad and Uncle Jon _not_ being responsible.”

 

She giggled, “We were teenagers, baby. We all made some mistakes. But we were lucky, we had each other.”

 

“Luckier still,” Ned said, “That you still do.”


	9. Baby Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is the follow-up that nobody asked for. I couldn't get the next generation of Starks/Snows out of my head. 
> 
> All fluff - the OG gang is only in it as supporting characters.

 

She could smell the chill in the air when she woke up and she smiled, stretching lazily.

 

Her body was delightfully sore as she had been waterskiing for most of yesterday with her brother and cousins and their friends. She’d finally went slalom and the boys had crowned her the Queen of Love and Waterskiing and had taken to calling her Her Highness for the rest of the day.

 

She went into her closet and pulled out one of James’ sweatshirts and pulled it on over her tank top and cotton sleep shorts. She brushed her teeth and washed her face before heading downstairs.

 

“Hi Auntie Sansa,” she greeted sleepily.

 

“Morning my love, did you sleep well?,” her beautiful aunt asked with a smile, sipping her coffee.

 

“Very well,” she nodded and went up to her and wrapped her arms around Sansa’s slender wast, “But I’m still sleepy.”

 

Her aunt pulled her in, smoothing her hair and Kitty breathed in her familiar subtle smell of roses.

 

“Is Kitty giving out morning cuddles?,” she heard from behind her.

 

“Come on Daddy,” she said with a grin and felt her father’s arms wrapping around her and Sansa both.

 

Sansa giggled like a teenager as her older brother smacked a kiss to both their heads, swaying wildly this way and that. Kitty giggled as well, still loving what they’d taken to calling when she was a child _cuddle piles_ , which really just consisted of grabbing whatever Stark or Snow was in the vicinity and pulling them in.

 

They extricated themselves and her father squeezed her shoulder gently and then grimaced, “Oof are you sore from yesterday?”

 

“A bit,” she admitted, stretching. “Nothing a swim can’t cure.”

 

“You’re such a lake kid,” he said with a grin and pressed another kiss to her forehead before wandering out of the room, “I love it.”

 

She gratefully took the cup of tea her aunt handed her and went onto the back terrace to find her mom sitting and chatting with one of the boys.

 

“Morning sweetheart,” her mom said happily, taking a sip of her own coffee.

 

She’d been hearing every day of her life how much she looked like her mother. She’d always found it hard to believe, her mother was the most beautiful woman on earth, only Auntie Sansa could hold a candle to her. Even now, when most moms were on their second or third try with plastic surgery, her mother hardly wore make-up and with her tan and blonde waves, she could pass for a woman in her early thirties if not her twenties. She’d found an old picture the other day of her mother being held up above Daddy’s, Uncle Jon’s and Theon’s heads and it was the first time it struck her. She’d placed it in the den next to the photo of her, James, Ned and Ben in the same position and her Dad and Uncle Jon had smiled at her sadly saying _Just like your mother_ while her Mom had picked up both pictures and gestured to the one of Kitty saying, _I was never this beautiful._

 

The boy she was sitting with turned around and she felt her stomach flip flop when she saw it was Will. Will Mason, his very name drove her crazy and then he offered her that lopsided grin of his and she was a complete goner.

 

He, like they all had, had gained a deep tan this summer and it brought out the flecks of gold in his eyes and the freckles on his nose. He was wearing his lacrosse sweatshirt, but she knew underneath it his muscles were hard and impressive.

 

He held her puppy Bo in his arms, who had gone from content to manic as soon as he’d seen her.

 

“Hi puppy wuppy,” she cooed and crossed to them.

 

She placed her cup down on the table and placed a hand on Will’s shoulder and leaned over him to pet Bo and let him lick her face.

 

“Here, Kitty,” Will said with a grin, “You take him, he’s practically vibrating.”

 

She took the puppy happily and sat across from him, accepting her cup back. Bo was asleep within seconds and she stroked his soft fur.

 

“Will was just filling me in on the events of last night,” her mom said as she leaned over and tucked a curl behind her ear.

 

She leaned into her mom’s touch and felt her stroke the shell of her ear reassuringly. She knew how she felt about Will, she told her mom everything. Well not _everything_ but most things.

 

“Is that so?,” she asked, taking a sip of her jasmine tea. “You guys _rage_?”

 

Will grinned, “We may have done. You should have come with us.”

 

“Oh I was much too tired,” she said with a yawn, “When did you guys get in?”

 

Will gave her a look and it was her mom who answered, “Jon said just after midnight, right?”

 

“Just about, Mrs. Stark,” Will said with a yawn.

 

“Will,” her mom admonished.

 

“Sorry Ella,” he said with a grin that made mother and daughter alike smile. Maybe they had more than looks in common.

 

“I think I’m going to take lazybones here for a walk,” she said gesturing to Bo, “Mom should I keep him on a leash?”

 

“I think so, he ran off on James the other day and he still doesn’t know his way around,” her mom said.

 

“You’re a hound dog,” Kitty playfully admonished the adorable puppy in her arms, “Aren’t you supposed to be able to track a single baby carrot from twenty miles away?”

 

Will chuckled and she felt the sound deep in her belly.

 

“Do you want any company?,” he asked her, “I could use a walk to clear my head.”

 

“Sure,” she said, ignoring her mom’s subtle smile. “Let’s go.”

 

She kissed her mom’s cheek and grabbed Bo’s leash, letting him lead her happily down the stairs. She felt Will behind her, and he caught up with her as they made it to the bottom of the stairs. She turned right, wanting to walk by the lake, loving the way mist gathered at this time of day.

 

They turned out of sight of the house and all of a sudden she was up against a tree and she was being kissed.

 

 _Expertly_ kissed.

 

Will had an arm around her back and the other hand under her chin tilting her face up to him. She melted against him and opened her mouth to allow his tongue to touch hers.

 

He tilted her face back more and leaned down and pressed kisses to her neck, and she gathered his sweatshirt in her hands as she pressed her body against his.

 

“ _What time did you guys get in_?,” he quoted her and popped his head up so he could look down at her, “You know, Kitty Stark, sometimes I think you want to get caught.”

 

She gave him a rueful grin and he chuckled at her, rubbing his nose against hers.

 

He had come into her room last night, _only to say goodnight_ , when they’d all gotten back and she’d been happy that he had no alcohol on his breath as he’d served as the DD for the evening. She had pulled him down into bed with her and burrowed into his strong chest and he pressed goodnight kisses to her cheeks and eyelids and lips many times before he’d actually taken his leave.

 

“Sometimes I think I do too,” she said a bit sadly.

 

“I’ll tell them,” he told her, “I promise. I nearly told them last night but one of the Brackens had made some comment about you and they were already riled up.”

 

“What kind of comment?,” she asked.

 

“The sort that earned him a bloody nose from James and the promise of more from Ned,” he said with a small smile, “He was lucky I was sober though, Ben and Simon had to hold me back even though they were chomping at the bit.”

 

She sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. The boys were annoyingly protective of her and she was quite tired of cleaning bloody knuckles at this point.

 

“And you’re not _not_ telling them because…,” she started and then bit her lip.

 

“Because what, darlin’?,” he asked her.

 

“Because this is just a summer fling and it’s not worth upsetting anyone over?,” she asked and then stared at their high school’s logo emblazoned on his chest, not being able to look him in the eye.

 

He tilted her chin back up to him and there was hurt in his dark green eyes. She was helpless against those eyes, which was why she was in this mess in the first place.

 

“No,” he said firmly, “Darlin’ I have loved you for as long as I can remember. Loving you is a part of who I am,” he told her, pressing a slow, warm kiss to her temple, “And now that I have you I’m not letting you go.”

 

She pulled him to her and burrowed against him. His strong arms were around her in a moment and she breathed him in, feeling as always, more content when she was surrounded by him.

 

“I’ll tell them,” he told her, “Do you believe me?”

 

She nodded, pulling away from him and pressed a kiss to his jaw, “I believe you,” she said, because Will Mason never lied, and added, “I’m sorry I’m being impatient… I just love you more than I thought possible and some days I feel like I’ll go crazy trying to hide it.”

 

“Kitty Stark,” he groaned, “You will be the death of me.”

 

He was being overdramatic. The boys would be upset, maybe, but they loved Will like a brother. Her parents loved him and her Aunt and Uncle loved him, and even little Bo loved him. She picked up her puppy and held him between them.

 

“Kiss me once more, Will Mason,” she ordered, “In case you grow up and stop loving me.”

 

“Not possible,” he told her before his lips descended on hers.

 

She knew very well that it _was_ possible, people fell in and out of love all the time. But then she thought of her parents, they were their ages the summer they’d gotten together and she wondered if her mom felt like this when her dad held her, she knew her father had been pulled out of a fight or two defending her. She thought of them and Auntie Sansa and Uncle Jon and it made her think that even if him falling out of love with her was _possible_ maybe it didn’t have to be very likely.

 

“It’s about time,” they heard and pulled away from one another.

 

Ned and James were there and they had identical grimaces on their faces that didn’t match Ned’s words.

 

“So that’s the way of it?,” James asked, but he was looking at her.

 

She felt Will’s arms tighten around her and she nodded, “That’s the way of it.”

 

“Good,” Ned nodded and then opened his arms to her, “Come on now, Kitten. Just because he’s your boyfriend doesn’t mean he takes my place as your favorite boy, right?”

 

“I thought I was your favorite,” her brother James protested.

 

“I don’t have favorites,” she shook her head with a smile, “But if I did it would be Ben.”

 

They threw their heads back and laughed and she stepped forward into Ned’s embrace, relinquishing Bo’s leash to James.

 

“You’ve waited a whole 30 seconds to tell me all the ways you’ll murder Will if he hurts me,” she told Ned, “I think you’re slipping in your old age.”

 

He grinned down at her, “You’re a cheeky little shit, Kitten. I don’t need to tell you all the ways though, Will already knows them.”

 

***

 

It had become entirely obvious to him that if they had one more hot day at the lake, that would be it for him.

 

It wasn’t that he was going to die of heat exhaustion or thirst or anything merciful like that, it was his heart that was going to give out. Because every day that it exceeded 80 degrees, Sally Hastings wore nothing but a bathing suit.

 

She wasn’t alone in that, certainly. They all lived in bathing suits up here, all of their meals were eaten outside anyway, so none of them worried about drying off before sitting down for lunch or dinner. Even his parents and aunts and uncles lived in their swimsuits, though in recent years his mom and aunts had taken to adding cover ups.

 

But he didn’t care about his brother or cousins walking around half-dressed, only Sally Hastings.

 

Even her name haunted him, Sally Hastings.

 

She had been best friends with Kitty for as long as he could remember, so he’d always known her. It was only somewhere around seventh grade that he’d realised that she was, without a doubt, the love of his life.

 

She had golden eyes and raven hair, adorable freckles on her nose and cheeks and lips that always seemed to a deep berry red without the help of lipstick. She was tall, 5’9 at least which made him thankful for his growth spurt that had brought him all the way to 6’2, the same height as his Uncle Robb, and had the grace of a dancer, which she was.

 

To his immense displeasure, today was a perfect 83 degrees.

 

“Please Benji,” Kitty pouted, “Come with us. It isn’t as fun without you.”

 

“Hey, what’s wrong with us?,” her brother James asked indignantly from his spot at the driver’s seat.

 

“You’re barbarians,” Kitty pointed out, turning back to him, “Come on _please, pretty please_?”

 

Ben groaned. He had always been unable to say no to his cousin. She was more like a sister to him than a cousin anyway, but more than that, she was his best friend. Not that he’d ever tell Simon that.

 

“Fine,” he groaned, “But you’re buying me a lemon pie.”

 

“Of course I am,” Kitty said with a grin, even though she didn’t have any money with her.

 

The family had an account at Nan’s (now run by the granddaughter of the original Nan), and he wasn’t entirely sure which of their parents bank accounts it came out of. Not that it much mattered.

 

He hopped on the boat and they pulled away from the dock, and as he was walking up to the bow, Sally Hastings decided it was the perfect time to pull off her white cover-up.

 

She was impossibly feminine, in her light pink bikini, and he wanted to nibble on her perfect little shoulders.

 

“Ow, ow, _ow_ ,” Kitty cried, having chosen an inopportune moment to put on sunblock.

 

“Close your eyes, darlin’,” her boyfriend Will said, grabbing a towel and dabbing it out of her eyes.

 

Will scowled at James, who was driving, which was bold. Though a good deal less bold than when he finished spreading in her sunblock and attacked her cheeks in kisses making her giggle.

 

He looked away from the admittedly cute display of affection. Kitty and Will were a great couple, but they were so in love it was almost sickening.

 

His eyes fell back to Sally, as they so often did, and he saw her looking at her best friend with a sad smile. She must have felt his gaze on her because she turned towards him. Her cheeks turned pink, though he figured that was from the sun, and he couldn’t quite believe it when she waved him over.

 

“Aren’t they cute?,” she asked as he settled in next to her.

 

“That’s one word for it,” he said grimly and she giggled and shoved him lightly.

 

Her fingers sparked electric currents on his skin and he wanted to go on feeling it.

 

“Are you going to the Tarly’s tonight?,” she asked curiously, leaning her head back so that the sun would hit her face.

 

She was a lake kid like the rest of them, having been coming up here every summer that he could remember, and she was always more comfortable on a boat than she was on solid ground.

 

“I don’t know, we hadn’t really talked about it, are you?,” he asked.

 

There was always some party to go to, and it didn’t much matter to him if they ended up at the Glovers’ or the Tarly’s. He’d go wherever she was going.

 

“That depends,” she said, a small smile on her face.

 

“On?,” he asked with a gulp.

 

“If you’ll take me,” she said, as though it were obvious.

 

“We uh… well of course we will,” he said, clearing his throat, “You and Kitty are always invited. You know that.”

 

She looked up at him and it felt like he’d failed a test somehow. The look was only in her eyes for a moment before she turned away from him.

 

“Ned?,” she asked his older brother.

 

“Yeah honey?,” Ned asked in that frustratingly easy way of his.

 

“I think today is the day that I jump from the top of Valyrian’s Dread,” she said with an excited grin on her face.

 

Ned let out a howl and high-fived her saying _That’s my girl_. Ben wasn’t jealous, not really. Ned was like a big brother to her, he knew. His older brother liked to tease him, but he’d never go after the girl he loved. And Sally didn’t have brothers and had always said _If Kitty’s my sister, then you guys belong to me too, right?_

 

*

 

Ben breathed deeply, shifting uncomfortably in his boat shoes. He’d gotten ready quickly, wearing navy blue shorts and a white button down, and he knew that dinner wouldn’t be ready for a few more minutes, having only just started to smell the grill.

 

He knocked on the door in front of him and heard a strained voice call, “Come in.”

 

The sight before him knocked the wind right out of him. Sally was wearing a light yellow sundress and her feet were bare, his dog Riley at her feet.

 

“Oh thank god,” she said when she saw him, “My necklace is stuck in my hair, do you mind?”

 

“Uh, no,” he said, stepping into her room, “Of course not.”

 

It was a guest room, technically, but no one had ever stayed there except for her and she’d decorated it over the years, with pictures of all of them. Her dresser had homemade cards that his little cousins had made for her on it and her nightstand had a bouquet of wildflowers that his dad always picked for the girls.

 

He stepped up behind her and breathed in her familiar smell that always conjured summer rainstorms. Her perfect edible shoulders were right there and her hair was so silky it felt like a personal affront.

 

It was easy enough to remove her hair from her necklace, a delicate one that he knew Kitty had gotten her for her thirteenth birthday.

 

“Sally,” he said, “Will you come to the Tarly’s party tonight?”

 

“Of course,” she said, “I love your family but I wouldn’t dress up just for dinner with them.”

 

“No,” he shook his head. Thinking about the boat and what she’d asked and the disappointment he’d seen in her eyes that had given him more hope than he’d ever had. “Will you come with _me_ to the Tarly’s?”

 

She hadn’t yet turned around but he knew she was smiling. She smiled with her whole body, it was one of his favorite things about her. She turned around slowly, and the early evening sun caught in her golden eyes, making them golder still.

 

“You want to take me?,” she asked in a small voice.

 

“Well actually I’d prefer to take you somewhere else, where it was just us,” he said honestly, because even though he was as unobservant as his father, there was no mistaking a look like that.

 

“And why would you want to do that?,” she asked with an impish grin.

 

“So I can do this,” he said and before he could talk himself out of it he pressed his lips to hers.

 

She tasted like raspberries and home and her lips were so soft against his. He went to move away and she stepped towards him, her hands on his shoulders, so he caught her lips again because it was the only thing to do when a girl like her wanted you too.

 

“OH MY GOD WILL GET IN HERE!,” they heard from behind them.

 

He turned and saw Kitty jumping up and down, Will clearly afraid that she was hurt hurrying up behind her and colliding into her. He grinned when he saw the pair of them and picked his girlfriend up by her waist, carrying her away.

 

“Maybe tomorrow,” Sally said giggling, “Just the two of us.”

 

“Tomorrow works,” he said, taking her face in his hands and kissing her again, because he hadn’t kissed her for so long and now that he could he didn’t want to do anything else.

 

He took her hand and brought her outside to where his family was all assembling.

 

“Miss Sally I have a very important question for you,” his dad asked as they stepped out, purposefully ignoring the fact that her hand was in his, though he saw him smile anyway, “Do you want cheese on this ball o’ meat?”

 

Sally only smiled and said, “Yes please, swiss if you have it,” then she removed her hand from his and went and sat down at the table in the spot next to his aunt.

 

“How are you doing, darling?,” his Auntie Ella asked, smoothing Sally’s hair.

 

“It’s about time,” his dad said, drawing his attention away from Sally, as he flipped a couple of burgers on the grill.

 

“Don’t listen to him,” his Uncle Robb said, throwing his arm around him, “He took ages to tell your Mom.”

 

“I thought Mom told him,” he said, having heard the story long before.

 

“Let’s just focus on you,” his dad said with a grin.

 

Ben chuckled along with his Uncle Robb but said, “I guess it doesn’t matter really, because once you got her you didn’t let her go.”

 

His family was the exception that proved the rule when it came to marriages. His parents were still madly in love, having weekly date nights and a secret language between the two of them, and his aunt and uncle were no different.

 

His uncle looked at him now and smiled, “That’s right, but you know… not all loves have to be forever.”

 

“Yours was,” he pointed out, “Why not mine?”

 


End file.
